A WOMAN suspected of killing her mother and stuffing her body into a suitcase has been sexually abused in her Indonesian prison cell, her lawyer claims.

Heather Mack, 18, was charged with the murder of her mum, Sheila Von Wiese-Mack, 62, whose body was found inside a bloody suitcase in the back of a taxi outside Bali’s St Regis Hotel last Tuesday.

Heather Mack’s 21-year-old boyfriend, Tommy Schaefer, was also charged in connection with the killing.

Michael Elkin, a Chicago-based attorney who said he represents Heather Mack, said in a statement on Monday that his client had suffered abuse and had been sexually assaulted while in police custody.

Elkin could not be reached, but in the statement said that over the course of several conversations with Heather Mack, she told him she had been sexually assaulted since her arrest, and that she noticed what appeared to be needle marks on her body that she could not explain.

He also said she told him she was not getting proper nourishment.

“Heather seemed to be dazed and confounded,” Elkin said in his written statement.

“I asked why she sounded incoherent at times. She said that she was not getting enough water. She also mentioned that she was being given ‘vitamin pills,’ but could not identify what they were for and asked me if she should stop taking them.”

Police officials in Bali have denied that Mack and Schaefer have been mistreated, telling reporters they have been treated humanely.

Meanwhile, Sheila Von Wiese-Mack’s body was sent back to the United States to be examined by the FBI.

An autopsy revealed the victim died of asphyxiation due to severe trauma to her face, and that her neck was also broken, according to reports. Police said she was beaten with a lamp and ashtray.

Last week, the FBI sent an agent to Bali to coordinate with local police and help organise her return to the US, according to CBS news.