Indonesian woman sentenced to 20 years for cyanide murder

An Indonesian woman has been given a sentence of 20 years in jail for murdering her college friend by poisoning her coffee, media reports said.

Jessica Kumala Wongso, 27, an Indonesian citizen and permanent resident of Australia, was accused of lacing her friend's coffee with cyanide in order to kill her.

On Thursday, after months of hearings, a panel of three Jakarta judges ruled that she was guilty of premeditated murder, Daily Mail reported.

The judges found that Wongso had personal problems in Australia and hence decided to return to Indonesia.

Judge Binsar Gultom said Wongso was still hurting over her break-up with Australian man Patrick O'Connor in late 2014 and when she first met up with Mirna and her husband Arif Soemarko last December and saw them 'so happy' something was 'triggered'.

'I don't accept this decision because for me, it's not fair and very one-sided,' Wongso said after the verdict.

On January 6, 2016, Wongso and her college friend Wayan Mirna Salihin were meeting at a Jakarta cafe when Salihin took a sip of a cyanide-laced drink, collapsed on the floor and went into convulsions. She died by the time she arrived at hospital.

--IANS

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