Accused in poison coffee case guilty, jailed 20 years

JAKARTA: Judges at the Central District Court here have sentenced permanent resident of Australia Jessica Kumala Wongso to 20 years in prison after finding her guilty of murdering Wayan Mirna Salihin by putting cyanide into Mirna’s coffee on Jan 6 at the Olivier cafe in Grand Indonesia, Central Jakarta.

In line with the indictment, the judges concluded yesterday that Jessica murdered Mirna in revenge for repeatedly telling Jessica to break up with Patrick O’Connor, her former Australian boyfriend.

According to the indictment, Mirna advised Jessica to break up with Patrick because he was a violent drug user with economic difficulties. Mirna’s advice, according to prosecutors, offended Jessica.

Jakarta Police named Jessica as the sole suspect in the highprofile murder on Jan 29.

The Prosecutor’s Office had returned the dossier several times for lack of evidence provided by investigators before finally accepting it and proceeding with it to trial.

Jessica and her legal team have insisted since the hearings started on June 15 that she is innocent of Mirna’s death.

The murder case and especially Jessica’s trial has been gripping public attention with several national television stations broadcasting the hearings live from the court room.

The soap operastyle tale of two members of the wealthy elite allegedly having a dramatic fallout that culminated in murder has captivated Indonesia, where it has been dubbed “the poisoned coffee” case.

It also generated huge interest in Australia, where both Mirna and Jessica studied together at a design college.