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“Suitcase killer” Heather Mack is facing up to 28 years in US prison after she pleaded guilty to conspiring to murder her socialite mother Sheila von Wiese-Mack at a luxury 5-star resort in Bali back in 2014. Mack, now 27, reached a plea deal with prosecutors in federal court in Illinois on Friday morning, pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to kill a US national and finally bringing some sort of conclusion to a horror case that has rumbled on for almost eight years. “I plead guilty, your honor,” she told US District Judge Matthew Kelley during the short hearing. Under the terms of the agreement, prosecutors recommend that she faces a maximum sentence of 28 years in prison, with consideration given to the seven years that she’s already served in Indonesian jail. If she is sentenced to 28 years, she could be eligible for release in 2042 – taking into account the time served in Indonesia and behind bars in the US. She would be 46 years old. The daughter – Stella – that she gave birth to in Bali prison would be an adult. However, Judge Kelley warned that he could ignore the sentencing guidelines, with the charge carrying a maximum penalty of life in prison. “I have to make up my own mind,” he said. A sentencing date was set for 18 December. Under the deal, Mack is unable to file any appeals in her case. Earlier in the hearing, Mack told the judge that she had been hospitalised “a few times” with depression and post-traumatic stress disorder while growing up. Mack has spend almost every day of her life behind bars since she was arrested in August 2014 in Bali. On 12 August 2014, Mack, then 18, and her then-boyfriend Tommy Schaefer, 21, bludgeoned von Wiese-Mack to death with the metal handle of a fruit stand at the luxury 5-star St. Regis resort in Bali. They then stuffed her body into a suitcase, hailed down a taxi and loaded it into the trunk of the car. When they were unable to check out of the luxury resort – using her mother’s credit card – the couple fled the scene, leaving the bloodstained suitcase behind. They were soon tracked down to a budget motel and arrested on suspicion of murder. At the time of the murder, Mack – the daughter of socialite von Wiese-Mack and famed musician James L Mack – was pregnant with Schaefer’s child. Prosecutors revealed that she had flown her lover out on a $12,000 business-class ticket just hours earlier charged to her mother’s credit card. Surveillance footage later captured the trio arguing in the hotel lobby after he arrived. Less than 12 hours after Schaefer flew in, Mack was dead. Chilling text messages later surfaced showing how the couple likened themselves to the notorious duo Bonnie & Clyde and plotted methods of murder. They were both convicted of premeditated murder in Indonesia and narrowly avoided facing the firing squad. Mack was released from prison in Bali in October 2021 after serving seven years – three years early due to good behaviour – and was briefly reunited with her daughter Stella, then six, who she planned to begin a new life with. But her newfound freedom was short-lived. Five days later, the then 26-year-old was deported from the Indonesian island back to the US and was arrested by FBI agents as soon as she touched down on American soil at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport. She was indicted on two counts of conspiring to commit murder in a foreign country and one count of obstruction of justice. The indictment, which was filed in 2017 but remained sealed while she remained in Indonesian prison, also charged Schaefer with the same counts. Since then, she has been behind bars in Illinois awaiting trial and had been fighting against the charges, insisting that she had served her time for her crime in Indonesia. The case was set to go to trial on 1 August in Chicago before Mack revealed her intentions to change her plea earlier this month. Speaking to The New York Post last week, Mack said: “I have served nearly 10 years in prison. I felt that I had done my time, so I was gung-ho for trial,” she said. “Now, after sitting for so long, I know what I have to do. I’m going to be a felon in America, and that is fine. I understand from [the US government’s] perspective that, if I don’t plead guilty and they didn’t indict me, I wouldn’t be a felon.” She added: “I could become a police officer and work for the government… I could carry a firearm on the street.” Schaefer is still serving his 18-year sentence in Indonesia before he too will face charges on US soil. Read More Heather Mack plea hearing – live: ‘Suitcase killer’ to plead guilty in US over Bali murder of socialite mom A body in a suitcase, Bonnie and Clyde fantasy and baby born in Bali prison: The chilling case of Heather Mack Heather Mack, convicted in Bali of killing mother, set to plead guilty in US

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A delegation of security officials, diplomats and journalists accompanying the South African president to Ukraine and Russia was stranded on a separately chartered plane at Warsaw’s airport for more than 24 hours. Polish authorities said on Friday that the problem was over permissions for firearms. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa is among a group of African leaders visiting Kyiv and Moscow on a mission to encourage a resolution to Russia’s war on Ukraine. According to the Poland Border Guard agency, Ramaphosa's security detail did not have permission for the weapons they were carrying, which resulted in a standoff. The president's office described the incident as “very unfortunate and deeply regrettable” but said his security was not compromised. “Members of the delegation had weapons which they did not have permission to bring, but they could leave the plane themselves,” the Polish agency tweeted Friday. “Our officials remain engaged with their Polish counterparts in trying to resolve the situation,” said Vincent Magwenya, Ramaphosa's spokesman. Among the group was Maj. Gen. Wally Rhoode, the head of Ramaphosa’s personal protection unit, who claimed the delegation faced hostile treatment from Polish authorities, including one of their female colleagues who was strip searched. Rhoode told journalists from the steps of the plane that Polish officials were being deliberately obstructive and had tried to “confiscate” firearms from them — even though the arms were being transported in secure cases in the plane’s cargo hold. South African journalists who were stuck on the plane were tweeting that they were later told to disembark and proceed to customs. It was unclear whether they would be allowed to proceed to Kyiv, where Ramaphosa and other African heads of state are expected to hold talks with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The incident sparked debate in South Africa, where many suggested the standoff was an indirect message to the country over its non-aligned stance on the war that has led to diplomatic tensions with the West. ___ Associated Press writers Vanessa Gera in Warsaw and Gerald Imray in Cape Town, South Africa, contributed to this story. Read More Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide

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