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Cyanide Coffee Murder: Jessica Kumala Wongso Sentenced To 20 Years In Jail

The Australian resident was found guilty of lacing her friend’s coffee with cyanide.

 Jessica Kumala Wongso, a former design student from Sydney has beens sentenced to 20 years in prison for the murder of her best friend, Wayan Mirna Salihin, by slipping cyanide into her coffee.

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The 28-year-old was found guilty of lacing her best friend’s coffee with cyanide in a Jakarta café on January 6 this year.

“I don’t accept this decision,” Wongso told the Jakarta Court on Thursday according to SMH.

“It’s not fair and very one-sided. More than this, I leave it all to the lawyers.”

RELATED: CCTV Footage Emerges Of The Moment Wayan Mirna Salihin Was Poisoned With Cyanide

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The case has gripped Indonesia, dubbed the “trial of the century” with the media circus surrounding it reaching unprecedented levels, with the verdict broadcast live on television and more than 500 police called in for security at the court.

Wongso escaped the death penalty with the help of the Australian government, who provided evidence from Australia about the two women’s time in the court and Wongso’s criminal record.

Although the court did state previously that it was not bound by any such guarantee.

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Indonesian prosecutors argued that Wongso carried out her plan to kill “meticulously”, noting that Wongso intended to kill her fellow design student after Salihin advised her to break up with her boyfriend as he was using drugs.

Police said she masked the coffee from CCTV footage by placing bags on the table so she couldn’t be seen dropping the poison into the victims coffee, according to The Guardian.

Salihin collapsed soon after drinking the coffee and died in hospital.

Prosecutor Melanie Wuwung told the court in her closing statement “the defendant’s act was especially cruel as it was committed against her best friend.”

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“The cyanide used to end the victims life did not kill her directly, but instead tortured her until death.”

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