Casefile Archives 4: Mirna Salihin
85 min
•Jan 31, 20263 months agoSummary
This Casefile episode examines the 2016 death of Mirna Salihin, a 27-year-old Indonesian woman who collapsed after drinking a cyanide-laced Vietnamese iced coffee at Jakarta's Olivia Café. Jessica Wongso, her Australian friend, was convicted of murder despite significant forensic inconsistencies and procedural irregularities that have led legal experts to question whether she received a fair trial.
Insights
- High-profile criminal cases in developing nations can be heavily influenced by public pressure and media coverage, potentially compromising judicial fairness and due process protections
- Forensic evidence gaps—particularly the family's refusal of a full autopsy—created critical evidentiary holes that allowed conflicting interpretations of cause of death
- Circumstantial evidence and behavioral analysis (demeanor, CCTV footage interpretation) can be unreliable conviction foundations without direct physical evidence linking defendant to crime
- Procedural violations including warrantless searches, interrogation without counsel, and evidence chain-of-custody issues undermine case integrity regardless of guilt or innocence
- International cooperation in criminal investigations can be complicated by differing legal standards and capital punishment policies between jurisdictions
Trends
Increasing scrutiny of criminal convictions in jurisdictions with weak procedural protections and documented corruptionRole of documentary media (Netflix) in reopening public discourse around controversial convictions and influencing parole decisionsCross-border criminal cases exposing gaps between civil law and common law systems in evidence standards and defendant protectionsForensic pathology limitations when autopsies are incomplete or refused, creating reasonable doubt in poisoning casesSocial media and press coverage's influence on jury perception and judicial decision-making in high-profile casesParole and judicial review mechanisms as potential correctives for procedurally flawed convictions in developing legal systems
Topics
Cyanide poisoning forensics and toxicologyIndonesian criminal justice system procedures and corruptionCircumstantial evidence and burden of proof standardsCCTV surveillance analysis in criminal investigationsForensic autopsy protocols and limitationsInternational extradition and capital punishment policy conflictsMedia influence on criminal trials and public perceptionBehavioral analysis and psychological profiling in courtEvidence chain-of-custody and contamination risksParole and judicial review processesWarrantless search and interrogation without counsel violationsToxicology testing post-mortem and embalming chemical interferenceDefendant demeanor interpretation in court proceedingsLife insurance fraud as criminal motiveAppellate review standards in civil law systems
Companies
Olivia Café
Upscale Jakarta café where Mirna Salihin died after consuming cyanide-laced Vietnamese iced coffee on January 6, 2016
Grand Indonesia Mall
Shopping mall in central Jakarta where Olivia Café is located and where the poisoning incident occurred
Billy Blue College of Design
Sydney design college where Jessica Wongso, Mirna Salihin, and Harnie Boone met and studied together
Bath and Body Works
Fragrance and skincare retailer where Jessica purchased gift bags used to obscure CCTV camera view at café
New South Wales Ambulance Service
Jessica Wongso's employer in Sydney where she worked as a graphic designer before being fired in November 2015
Netflix
Released 2023 documentary 'Ice Cold: Murder, Coffee, and Jessica Wongso' that renewed public debate about her conviction
Argonne Coffee
Indonesia's largest coffee chain that reportedly reached out to Jessica Wongso for collaboration after her parole
People
Mirna Salihin
27-year-old victim who died from cyanide poisoning at Olivia Café; married to Arif Samarco two months prior
Jessica Wongso
Australian resident convicted of Mirna's murder; sentenced to 20 years, granted parole in August 2024 after 8 years
Eddie Salihin
Mirna's father; successful businessman who reported her death to police and maintained conviction of Jessica's guilt
Sandy Salihin
Mirna's twin sister who moved to Germany to distance herself from case; supported death penalty for Jessica
Arif Samarco
Mirna's husband of two months; subject of conspiracy theories but denied involvement; has since remarried
Patrick O'Connor
Jessica's ex-boyfriend in Sydney; obtained restraining order against her for harassment and threats in November 2015
Harnie Boone
Friend who met Mirna and Jessica at Olivia Café; tasted the poisoned coffee and survived; witnessed Mirna's collapse
Otto Hazibuan
Celebrity lawyer who took Jessica's defense case pro bono; led 15-member legal team and filed appeals after conviction
Rangasa Poutra
Barista at Olivia Café who made the Vietnamese iced coffee; testified he used standard ingredients and procedures
Christy Carter
Jessica's former boss at NSW Ambulance Service; provided statement about Jessica's anger, threats, and instability
Dr. Gaya Suria at Marja
Forensic pathologist from University of Indonesia; testified that low cyanide levels could indicate natural causes
Simon Bart
Professor of Indonesian law at University of Sydney; concluded Jessica's trial was unfair based on procedural violations
Liam Bartlett
Australian journalist who conducted exclusive 2025 interview with Jessica Wongso for Channel 7's Spotlight program
Timothy Marbun
Indonesian news presenter who hosted daily trial coverage for Compass TV; compared Jessica to film villain
Johannes Nagroho
Writer who analyzed case for Foreign Policy magazine; examined class dynamics and public fascination with wealthy def...
Quotes
"Whatever I do is wrong. If she acted calm, she was interpreted as being a cold-blooded murderer. But if she cried or showed emotion, that was criticized too."
Jessica Wongso•Trial testimony
"I believe in the power of God. I believe the police will be able to arrest the perpetrator so my daughter can rest in peace."
Eddie Salihin•After Mirna's funeral
"Whether she is guilty or innocent, Wongso should not have been convicted. Her trial was unfair, as was her treatment by police."
Professor Simon Bart•Journal article analysis
"Procedural irregularities and legal mistakes plagued Wongso's case from the very beginning."
Professor Simon Bart•Criminal Law Review
"I was so happy to meet Mina. She changed my life so much. She also introduced me to God."
Arif Samarco•2016 interview about Mirna
Full Transcript
Self-praise is no praise, except for people talking about their jobs online. Like, what my barista taught me about B2B sales, or how losing a pub quiz made me a better team player. Really? Here indeed, we're more sure than tell. Our profiles help you showcase your skills and experience so employers can focus on what you do, not what you talk about. Because actions speak louder than buzzwords. Download the Indeed app and start making the world work better for you today. Hey guys, it's Angela from Get A Grip and this message is brought to you from M&S. Love that. If I see someone with a fab coat, I'll be like, love your coat. Nice shoes, horn. Very smart jeans. Sending and receiving compliments is the best feeling, especially when it comes to style. Those compliments are extra special. Well, gang, there is a new spring collection that has just arrived at M&S and it is full of compliment worthy must-haves to refresh your wardrobe with. Shop the new M&S spring collection online and in store and get set for compliments galore. Love that. If you're interested in supporting the show, you can still find our subscriber channels on Patreon, Apple podcasts or Spotify. However, please note that moving forward, we will no longer be producing premium only episodes. Paid subscribers will continue to receive new case file episodes one week early and dad free, as well as episodes of Behind the Files, where the case file team answers your questions and discusses the recent cases we have covered. As always, I'd like to offer a huge and heartfelt thank you to everyone who has listened and supported the show over the years, especially our Patreon and Premium subscribers. We appreciate each and every one of you. Our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents. If you feel at any time you need support, please contact your local crisis centre. For suggested phone numbers for confidential support and for a more detailed list of content warnings, please see the show notes for this episode on your app or on our website. It was nearing 3.30pm on Wednesday, January 6, 2016, 127-year-old Jessica Wongsoe arrived at the Grand Indonesia Mall in central Jakarta. She was due to meet two of her friends, Meena Sally Hin and Harnie Boone, for coffee at the upscale Olivia Café at 5pm. It had been a while since the trio had all been together. The three Indonesian women had met in Australia years prior while studying at the Billy Blue College of Design in Sydney. After graduating, Jessica had stayed in Australia while Meena and Harnie returned to Jakarta. They'd all remained in contact and caught up intermittently over the years, but this was Jessica's first trip back to Jakarta since 2012. Having arrived at the Café early, Jessica went in to make a reservation. Olivia was a trendy venue that catered to high-end clientele. It was known as a cool spot to be seen and was a favourite among Jakarta's more affluent crowds. Customers could enjoy the eclectic menu of fine foods, desserts and cocktails while soaking in the natural light that poured in from the skylights above. An assortment of indoor plants perfectly complemented the green vinyl booths and timber finishes, creating an earthy yet sophisticated atmosphere. It was the perfect spot for the friends, who came from well-off families and lived around the affluent Kalapa Garden District to catch up. After reserving its table, Jessica still had plenty of time before her friends arrived. She ventured back into the shopping mall and headed to Bath and Body Works, a fragrance and skin care store where she bought a bottle of liquid soap for herself and each of her friends. She then returned to Olivia with the soaps in three large paper gift bags. By this point, it was 4.14pm. Jessica took a seat at Table 54, a large booth situated towards the back of the café. Earlier that day, Jessica had messaged Meana and Hane in their WhatsApp group, saying that she'd like to pay for their drinks that afternoon. The others told her she didn't need to, but Jessica insisted. She walked over to the bar and ordered an old-fashioned cocktail for herself, a Sazarak for Hane, and a Vietnamese-iced coffee for Meana. Meana was a self-proclaimed coffee snob and she'd raved to the group about how much she loved Olivia's Vietnamese-iced coffees. By the time Meana and Hane finally arrived, it was 5.16pm. Jessica stood up and warmly embraced her friends, letting them know she'd taken the liberty of ordering their drinks. Meana thanked Jessica for this client, albeit unnecessary gesture, and the three sat down and began chatting. Meana took a sip through the straw of her iced coffee. She immediately screwed her face up and discussed. This tastes awful, she declared. Meana extended the drink towards Hane and asked her to taste it. It didn't smell like coffee at all, and the colour didn't look quite right either. Hane reluctantly took a sip. It tasted bitter and burning. Meany pushed the drink towards Jessica, but having seen her friends reactions, Jessica refused to taste it. Then Meana started fanning her face with her hand. Suddenly she threw her head back and began convulsing. The cafe staff saw what was going on and ran over to move the table out of the way and give Meana some room. It was clear she was having trouble breathing and she soon began foaming at the mouth, her eyes rolling into the back of her head. Olivia's manager joined the crowd that had gathered around trying to help. Jessica Wongso stood next to her. What did you put in the coffee, she asked. An unconscious Meana Sallihin was wheelchared out of Olivia Cafe and to a medical centre within the shopping mall. Realising the seriousness of her condition, she was transported to hospital where doctors worked desperately to try and revive her. Her family immediately rushed to her side, having received a phone call from a hysterical Hane who initially thought that Meana might be having an epileptic seizure. Meana's father Eddie Sallihin despairingly tried to administer CPR to Meana himself, while her twin sister Sandy yelled at her to wake up. But it was no use. Meana was officially declared dead 30 minutes after arriving at the hospital. The Sallihin family was left in shock. As far as they were concerned, 27-year-old Meana had been in perfect health. She was in the prime of her life, working for a design company and having just gotten married to her adoring husband Arif Samarco two months earlier. Meana had an opulent ceremony at a luxury resort in Bali, attended by their closest friends and family. Meana had grand plans for her future, with the dreams of opening her own cafe and starting a family of her own. How her family wondered, could she be taken from them so suddenly? Meana's father Eddie reported his daughter's death to the police. There was only one explanation he could think of for Meana's sudden death, and it was that she had been poisoned. Hany Boone told the doctor that she had drank from Meana's iced coffee and was worried that she would die too. The doctor conducted a physical examination, but concluded that Hany was fine. He prescribed a laxative and told her to eat and drink as much as possible to flush out any potential toxins from her system. Jessica Wongso was also examined and given the all clear, while police took samples from Meana's stomach contents for toxicological testing to determine if she had indeed been poisoned. The police went to a Livia Cafe and spoke to the staff there. The barista who made the Vietnamese iced coffee, Rangasa Poutra, said there had been nothing unusual about the coffee. After the receipt for the order came through, Rangasa said he made the beverage like he always did, filling a glass with ice and a couple of spoons of condensed milk before placing what's known as a theme filter full of ground coffee on top of it and pouring over hot water. He then put the coffee on a tray to be taken out by the server. The server didn't find anything unusual about the coffee when he took it over to take the table 54. It looked and smelled like it always did. After Meana collapsed, Olivia's bar manager, Divi Siyagiyan, took the iced coffee into the back kitchen and examined it herself. She had immediate concerns about it based on Jessica Wongso's comment about what had been put into it. Divi gave the iced coffee a whiff and took a sip. It smelt and tasted rotten. Rangasa, the barista who made the iced coffee, came in and noticed that the color had changed since he made it. It should have been brown, but it returned the golden yellow color of turmeric. Rangasa sniffed the coffee and was hit with a sharp odor that smelt like glue. It instantly irritated his nose. Rangasa began double checking all of the ingredients he'd used to make the drink, but everything appeared to be completely fine. Having kept the drink aside, a bartender poured the leftover iced coffee into an empty water bottle and handed it over to the police for toxicological testing. Three days after Meana's celly hymn's death, the results came back. It was confirmed that the iced coffee contained cyanide, a rapidly acting and highly lethal poison. When ingested, cyanide affects the cardiovascular and central nervous system by preventing the body cells from receiving or absorbing oxygen. Within minutes of absorbing the poison, a person can experience organ failure, convulsions, coma and death. While all of this was consistent with the symptoms Meana exhibited right before her death, a full autopsy would need to be done to prove that she hadn't died from natural causes. The police met with Meana's family at the funeral home and requested permission to perform a full autopsy. Her mother refused, saying she didn't want anyone to touch her daughter's body. They intended to have an open casket, Meana, the following day, and her body had already been prepared for burial. This was a major roadblock for the police. They explained that without an autopsy being done, they wouldn't be able to conduct a proper investigation to prove that Meana had actually been poisoned. After some deliberation, Meana's family continued to reject the full autopsy, but they agreed that her stomach and liver could be removed for further toxicological testing. Meana's funeral went ahead the following day. Meana was a popular and a deeply loved young woman, and it was a highly emotional time for those in attendance. For Meana's father, Eddie Sullyhin, the loss of his daughter made him feel like he'd lost his sparring partner. He was a successful wealthy businessman with a tough no-nonsense attitude. He'd always seen traits in Meana that he recognised in himself, and he admired the way she challenged him whenever they had a disagreement. Following his daughter's burial, Eddie told reporters, �We entrust the case to the police. I believe in the power of God. I believe the police will be able to arrest the perpetrator so my daughter can rest in peace.� There was one person who was noticeably absent from Meana's burial, and that was Jessica Wongsoe. One wondered why she wasn't there, given the two seemed to be close friends and had been together when Meana died. But the truth was that Jessica wouldn't have been very welcome there. Meana's parents had always viewed Jessica as a bit peculiar. The first time they'd met her, she'd been overly affectionate in the way she hugged Meana's mother. When she first visited their house, they also found it strange that she had entered their bedroom. Her order behaviour continued at the hospital on the day Meana died. Unlike Harnie, who had been in a clear state of shock and distress, Jessica had been oddly calm. Eddie's celly hen felt like Jessica was avoiding him by pretending to be short of breath than to have a stomach ache. He asked Jessica what she had to drink at the cafe, and she told him, �Mineral Water� Eddie was surprised by this response. He'd seen the receipt from Olivia and knew that Jessica had ordered cocktails for herself and Harnie. He couldn't understand why she would lie about such a thing, unless of course she had something to hide. The day after Meana's burial, toxicology tests confirmed the presence of cyanide in her stomach. With the police now confident that she had definitely been poisoned, they reviewed the footage taken from the 9 CCTV cameras around Olivia Cafe on Wednesday, January 6. There didn't appear to be anything unusual about Rungus Aputra's actions as he made the Vietnamese iced coffee, nor did the server interfere with the drink in any way when bringing it over to Jessica's table at 4.24pm. It sat there out in the open for 52 minutes until Meana and Harnie arrived at 5.16pm. At no point between the drink being delivered and Meana taking the first sip, did anyone else approach the table? Jessica Wongso was filmed arriving at the cafe lobby at 3.30pm. She then made her way into the main dining area to choose a table for her group. But there was something odd about her movements that seemed unnatural. She walked around the room in a somewhat suspicious manner, looking around as though she was scoping the place out. At one point she looked directly at one of the security cameras. The table Jessica eventually chose, table number 54, was located towards the back of the cafe, where the closest camera was obscured by a large pot filled with indoor plants. However, another camera at the opposite side of the restaurant provided a direct, albeit grainy view. This camera captured Jessica as she sat down in the booth and placed the three gift bags from bath and bodyworks on top of the table, arranging them in a line. When the waiter placed a menu plate at the end of the table, Jessica picked it up and placed it parallel to the gift bags. Once the drinks arrived, the bags essentially acted as a barrier, obstructing the drinks from the view of the camera on the other side of the room. Police couldn't see exactly what Jessica was doing behind the gift bags, but at one stage she made some movements as though she was taking something out of her handbag. She later moved to the iced coffee cup around, placing it further down the table to where Mina would eventually sit. Minutes before Mina and Hania arrived, she put the gift bags on the floor. Once Mina took a sip of the iced coffee, she began exhibiting symptoms almost immediately, waving her hands in front of her face as though trying to cool herself down. After she collapsed and the staff rushed over to help, a panicked stricken Hania called Mina's husband a reef on her mobile to let him know what was happening and to ask if Mina had any pre-existing health conditions that could explain what was going on. While all of this was happening, Jessica stood back from the crowd, watching on with little emotion while rubbing her hands together. This was a significant moment for the police. When cyanide comes into contact with the skin, it causes irritation, itching, and a dermatological condition known as cyanide rash. Based on the footage, they began to theorize that Jessica had invited Mina out for a drink, with the intention of poisoning her. Beyond the cafe staff, there was simply no other person who had the opportunity to tamper with Mina's drink. It also explained why Jessica had arrived so much earlier than her friends, and why she'd offered to buy their drinks in advance. Furthermore, after Mina died, Jessica had sent Mina's twin sister Sandia message, asking if her family had received the results of Mina's lab tests yet. She also sent Sandia link to a new story about fake coffee containing cyanide that was being sold in Vietnam, and suggested that's what could have happened to Mina. From the way Jessica had surveyed the restaurant, the police believed she'd arrived early so she could scope out the locations of the security cameras and choose a table that was out of their view. She then purchased the items from Bath and Body Works, so the gift bags would provide an added layer of protection while she stealthily slipped the cyanide into Mina's iced coffee, getting some on her hands in the process. A review of the WhatsApp messages sent between the friend group revealed that Jessica had asked if there was a medical clinic inside the shopping mall. She claimed she needed to get a prescription for vitamin D, but investigators suspected there could be a more sinister reason for her query. What if she was checking to make sure there wouldn't be a doctor on site who could administer the first aid to Mina and potentially save her life? The problem was the cameras hadn't actually captured Jessica putting anything into Mina's drink and to no traces of cyanide had been found at their table. Jessica had been summoned to the police station for an interview after the toxicology tests came back and she'd appeared calm the whole time, saying nothing that incriminated her in Mina's murder. She had no criminal record in Indonesia and to told the police she'd never had any trouble with the law. A search of her parents' home in Jakarta didn't turn up any evidence of cyanide, nor was there any trace of the poison found in Jessica's handbag. However, when police asked Jessica for the clothing she had been wearing on the day Mina died, she told them she had thrown the pants away. She said they'd gotten a hole in them on the way to the hospital and had asked her maid to get rid of them. Police seized a computer, documents and tissues from Jessica's house but found nothing that tied her to the poisoning. Then there was the obvious question of what motive Jessica could possibly have to want Mina dead. Not only did she claim they were good friends, but an examination of text messages sent between the two showed nothing but a typical female friendship and no one in their social circle knew of any overt friction between them. They also didn't think of Jessica as a violent or dangerous person. Most knew her to be bubbly and to be goofy, not the kind to commit such a callous crime. Police spoke to Mina's husband to a rift Samarco to see what he knew about Jessica and Mina's relationship. The only thing a rift could think of was a minor incident that Mina had told him about back in October 2014, roughly 14 months before she died. Having returned to Sydney for a holiday, Mina had caught up with Jessica for a coffee. As they chatted, Jessica told Mina about some problems she was having with her boyfriend at the time, a man named Patrick O'Connor. She apparently said that Patrick could be rough with her and that he had some problems with the drugs. Mina had never met Patrick, but she didn't like the sound of him and couldn't fathom what Jessica saw in him. According to a rift, Mina could be very upfront about her opinions and she told Jessica not to be stupid. She told Jessica to think about her future and urged her to end the relationship. Jessica didn't like what she heard and had reportedly stormed out of the restaurant. A rift said that Mina became wary of Jessica after that and no longer wanted to meet up with her one-on-one. When Jessica returned to Jakarta in December 2015, one month before Mina died, a rift joined Mina when the two women had first caught up for coffee. She and Mina had only recently tied the night in Bali and they were still riding the wave of newlywed bliss. Jessica hadn't been invited to the wedding, but if she held any grudges about this, she made no mention of it. While these minor incidents indicated that things weren't completely rosy between the two friends, it still didn't suggest why Jessica Wongso would want Mina's sally-hinned dead or how she'd managed to pull off such an elaborate plot. For the average citizen, cyanide isn't exactly easy to come by. Although it's a naturally occurring chemical found in many plants such as apple seeds, almonds and tapioca, the level of cyanide found in the foods we consume is very low. It's the man-made version available in gas, liquid and solid form that's fast-acting and highly lethal. Cyanide is illegal in Indonesia and police could find no evidence of Jessica having sourced or attempting to source it from anywhere. However, that didn't mean it wasn't possible. In Indonesia, it was once a common practice to catch fish using cyanide. Sashiman would add a small amount of the chemical to waterways to stun fish and send them floating to the surface. Although this practice had become illegal, the laws were minimally enforced and it wasn't difficult to buy cyanide from illegal sellers. If Jessica had managed to source the cyanide, police considered how she could have gotten the cyanide into the iced coffee. According to a Livia staff, it was cafe policy that all straws be served alongside drinks with a paper sheath at the top for hygiene purposes. Yet, some staff members recalled that the sheath had been removed from men's straw and placed into her iced coffee before she arrived. Police wondered whether Jessica could have come prepared with the cyanide-laced straw, which she swapped over with the cafe's straw. Either that, or she could have placed the cyanide into the drink in some other way and then unsheathed the straw to stir it in. The straw men a drank from had been thrown away, so neither of these theories could be tested. Regardless of how she'd managed to do it, police felt confident enough with the circumstantial evidence they'd gathered that on Friday, January 29, 2016, they publicly declared Mina Sullyin's death a murder and named Jessica Wongso as a suspect. The following morning, they went to Jessica's parents' house to formally place her under arrest, only to find that no one was there. The police tracked her down to a hotel room in North Jakarta where she was staying with her parents and in possession of her luggage. Fearing that Jessica was trying to flee the country, they charged her with Mina's murder and placed her in custody without bail. As news spread about Jessica's arrest, many were quick to question her unusually calm demeanor when fronting the press. Jessica smiled for the cameras outside the police station, raising furthest suspicion against her in the eyes of the public. The murder charge carried the possibility of a death sentence, making her seemingly upbeat attitude difficult to reconcile. In the eyes of Mina's family, Jessica seemed to be enjoying the attention. They supported Jessica being given the death sentence, with Mina's twin sister Sandy telling Australia's 60 minutes program, I would like to see justice for my sister, I for an I, life for a life. But when the prosecutors were handed the brief of evidence, they were reluctant to proceed to trial. While the police case against Jessica Wongso was compelling, it relied almost entirely on the grainy CCTV footage, statements from cafe staff and to Jessica's strange behavior on the day of Mina's death. There was still nothing to suggest how Jessica could have sourced to the cyanide, no clear indication as to how she could have administered it, and no information about her mental state at the time. Prosecutors returned the brief to police, requesting more information before the trial could go ahead. When that Jessica had spent roughly the past eight years in Australia, the Indonesian police knew very little about her past. All they had was her statement that she'd never been in trouble with the law. They considered whether Jessica could have sourced to the cyanide in Australia and brought it over when she returned to Jakarta. They reached out to the Australian federal police to see if they could shed any light, but AFP agents were hesitant to cooperate. Australia doesn't have the death penalty for convicted murderers, whereas Indonesia does. Given that Jessica was an Australian resident, they wanted to protect her from that possibility. The AFP agreed to help with the investigation on the condition that the death penalty be taken off the table. The Indonesian prosecutors agreed and the confidential files were handed over. As the Indonesian investigators cast their eye over the information, it quickly became clear there was more to Jessica Wongsoe than they had first realized. This file will be back shortly. Thank you for supporting us by listening to this episode's sponsors. Self-praise is no praise except for people talking about their jobs online. Like, what my barista taught me about B2B sales or how losing a pub quiz made me a better team player. Really? Here indeed, we're more sure than tell. Our profiles help you showcase your skills and experience so employers can focus on what you do, not what you talk about. Because actions speak louder than buzzwords. Download the indeed app and start making the world work better for you today. Hey guys, it's Zoe and Georgia from The May-Bomber's podcast and we are currently sponsored by MMS. Love that. Georgia, can I just take a moment to say I absolutely love your style today. You look at 10 out of 10. Absolutely gorgeous and glowing. Thank you. I love that. Listen, getting a compliment makes such a difference and there's definitely something extra special about getting a compliment on your style. Well, this is where MMS come in. With their new spring collection, it's full of compliment worthy must-haves that are sure to get noticed. Exactly, bag your favorite styles and watch the compliments start rolling in. Love that. Shop the new MMS spring collection online and install and get set for compliments. Love that. The game begins in 3, 2, 1. On March 20th, it's time for another twisted round of hide and seek. I'm not playing. This is Ready or Not 2. Hit Sinaboss. OK, come on, sister. No, no, no, no, no. Don't run away. From the directors of Screams X and Abigail. And so it begins. Run. Run. Run. Ready or not 2. Here I come. In Sinaboss March 20th. Certificate 15. Hook to get now. Thank you for listening to this episode's ads. By supporting our sponsors, you support CaseFile to continue to deliver quality content. While little was known about Jessica Wongso's early days in Sydney, the year leading up to Mina Sully Hind's death had been a tumultuous one for the then 26-year-old. Police records revealed that Jessica had been working as a graphic designer for the New South Wales ambulance service when things began to unravel in her personal life. It all started in January 2015 when her boyfriend at the time, an Australian man named Patrick O'Connor, tried to end their relationship. According to Patrick, Jessica began sending him countless text and voice messages in which she threatened to hurt herself. She went ahead with that threat in late January 2015 and was subsequently hospitalised for self-harm. This destructive behaviour continued to escalate over the following months. In October 2015, Patrick called the police to Jessica's flat after she tried to poison herself with carbon monoxide from a small coal barbeque. She was hospitalised but released shortly after. A few weeks later, police were called to the flat again. This time, Jessica was unconscious in bed with a bottle of whiskey and three letters by her side. One of the letters was addressed to her family and one was addressed to her co-workers, saying her goodbyes. The other letter blamed Patrick for her death. In November 2015, two months before Mina's death, Patrick contacted the police after discovering that his car had been destroyed by a vandal. Although he couldn't prove who was responsible, he felt confident it was Jessica. Not only had she been harassing him, but he's friends too. Fearing for their safety, Patrick sought an urgent apprehended violence order against Jessica, hoping that a court issued restraining order would deter her from further harassment. He described to Jessica as unstable, and although there was no evidence for police to charge her with the damaging the car, the urgent AVO request was granted, with a court hearing set for February 2016 to formally put it in place. At the same time that Patrick's car was vandalised, Jessica was fired from her job with the New South Wales Ambulance Service. As part of the investigation into Mina's Sully Hind's suspected murder, police interviewed Jessica's former boss, a woman named Christy Carter. Christy told the police that during the eight months she'd spent working with Jessica, she'd seen two very different sides of her personality. While Jessica could be kind and loved to smile, she was also quick to wango if things didn't go her way. Christy described to Jessica as being manipulative, dishonest, hateful, and bad-tempered. She said she wasn't surprised to hear that she was being accused of poisoning her friend, telling police. I have observed her for the past eight months, and from her attitude, hatred, and nature of her craziness, I have no doubt that she is capable of hurting or killing another person. Christy had gone to visit Jessica in the hospital after her suicide attempt in October 2015. Jessica was furious because the doctors were refusing to discharge her. She said something along the lines of, the bastards in this hospital will not let me go home and they are treating me like a killer. But if I wanted to kill someone, I certainly know how to do it. I could get a gun, and I know the right dosage. After Jessica lost her job with the ambulance service, she asked for Christy's help in finding a new place to live. When Christy refused, Jessica allegedly threatened to kill both Christy and Christy's mother. Christy told the police she had no idea how Jessica could have obtained the cyanide that was used to kill me and I, but she didn't doubt the possibility. When Jessica wants something to happen, Christy said, it could happen. All up, Jessica Wongso had reportedly been hospitalized for four suicide attempts in the month leading up to Minas Death. Combined with the allegations from Patrick O'Connor and the comments she allegedly made to Christy Carter, this gave Indonesian authorities their first real insight into Jessica's psychological state leading up to the supposed crime. But it was a police report from August 2015 that really caught their attention. On the night of Saturday, August 22, 2015, emergency services were called to a nursing home in the Sydney suburb of Laikart. After a car plunged through the brick facade, just the meters from where dozens of elderly residents were sleeping. Jessica Wongso arrived to find Jessica Wongso behind the wheel in what they believed to be an intoxicated state. She was taken to the hospital but managed to escape with minor injuries to her ribs and chest. No one else was hurt in the accident. Jessica was charged with a high-range drink driving offense further adding to her problems. According to confidential police files released exclusively by ABC's 730 program, in the lead up to her trip to Jakarta at the end of 2015, Jessica sent a text message to a friend saying she was considering fleeing Australia to avoid paying over $15,000 she owed in fines and legal fees. I could use the money to have an epic holiday, she wrote. I have new licenses anywhere where my dad got power too, rather than giving money to those police ignorant cunts. In another message, she wrote, on being pushed again and again, I'll break. For the Indonesian prosecutors, the files handed over by the Australian federal police were exactly what they needed to pursue the murder charge against Jessica. In their view, it proved that she was becoming more emotionally unstable and increasingly aggressive in the lead up to Meena's death. Her harmful behavior, once directed at herself, was now turned toward others. It also turned out that Jessica had been fired just days after Meena and Arif got married, a wedding she had not been invited to. Minas believed the culmination of these events could have led her to direct her anger towards Meena. As Minas twin sister Sandy told 60 minutes, I think Jessica is jealous of Meena because Meena had a good life and a good future ahead of her, and maybe Jessica's life is crap. All up, the brief of evidence was sent back and forth between the police and prosecutors five times over a three and a half month period before the Jakarta High Prosecutors' Office finally determined that there was enough evidence for the case to proceed to trial. This was major news in Indonesia, where the story had been making headlines from the outset. While the police had been gathering evidence against Jessica, speculation had been rampant about who else could have possibly been responsible for Meena's cellarion's death. Although no one else was ever formally investigated for the murder, that didn't stop the rumor mill from running wild. One of Jessica's lawyers claimed that someone could have taken out a life insurance policy against Meena overseas, in which they stood to gain $5 million US dollars in the event she was murdered. Without elaborating on this possibility, he said that Jessica was being used as a scapegoat, asking, why is Jessica the only person targeted in this case when it is possible that other persons were involved? These comments led to public suspicion against Meena's husband, Arif Samako, with some speculating that he was the one who stood to gain from such a life insurance policy. Some publications reported that Arif could have co-conspired with Olivia's barista, Runga Seputra, by paying him to spike Meena's drink. One tabloid journalist claimed that on the day before Meena died, he was in the car park of a shopping mall, when he saw a man who looked like Arif Samako pass a package to Runga Seputra. The implication being that the package could have contained either cash or the cyanide that was used to kill Meena. Arif vehemently denied such rumors and publicly accused the journalist of slander, while Meena's father reported Jessica's lawyer for defamation for his unfounded statements regarding the life insurance policy. Meanwhile, others theorized that Meena and Jessica could have been having a secret lesbian relationship during their time together in Australia. Meena's marriage to Arif tipped Jessica over the edge and led her to poison Meena in a jealous rage. Meena's friends and family denied that she was ever involved in a same-sex relationship, but that didn't discount the possibility that Jessica could have had romantic feelings towards her. Meena's father publicly claimed to have seen a series of text messages that Jessica had sent Meena, which he believed carried romantic connotations, fueling rumors that Jessica could have killed Meena out of rejection. A forensic hypnotist who interviewed Jessica and examined the messages sent between the pair told ABC's 730 there was no evidence to support the theory that the two women were lovers. But the rumour prevailed regardless. Some also speculated that a refund at Jessica could have been having an affair, an allegation they both strongly denied, and for which no evidence existed. For the average Indonesian watching the story play out was compared to watching a real-life soap opera. In a country where the majority of the population reportedly lives on less than $4 US dollars a day, the same price as a cup of coffee from a livier cafe, the salacious story of murder and revenge among the wealthy urban class had people gripped. With the Jessica and Meena's families pitted against one another, unfounded rumours swirled that the murder was part of a business robbery between the two families. As writer Johannes Nagroho explained in an article for Foreign Policy magazine, while the two families do not make the list of Indonesia's top 10 richest, they are filthy rich by the urban wealthy standards, at least rich enough to buy the law. The fight between them is a drama that even those convinced of Wang Seo's innocence can enjoy. Americans have a proverb that goes, When two elephants clash, the mouse deer caught in between is doomed. In Sally Hins murder case, however, two elephants are locked in a struggle while the tiny mouse deer get to be the spectators. For the average Indonesian, this is a moment of sweet irony. Watching giants grapple at each other's throats without being trampled underfoot yourself does not happen a lot in a country where the political and economic elites hold the reins, often at the expense of the rest. Ultimately, tragedies like Sally Hins death are seized upon by Indonesians because they expose the vulnerabilities of the country's upper class and bring the hope that things can go awry, even for the giants. Interest in the story only strengthened after it was revealed that celebrity lawyer Otto Hazibuan had agreed to take on Jessica's defense case pro bono. Many were disappointed by his decision to do so. With the Jessica's trial approaching, a majority of Indonesians were convinced she was guilty and they didn't approve of Otto's decision to defend a killer. But as Otto later told Netflix, he had been scheduled to go on an Alaskan cruise with his family when he received a visit from Jessica's mother, saying that her daughter had been treated unfairly and pleading with him to take on the case. Otto met with Jessica and agreed to help on one condition. If at any point he became convinced that she was guilty of murdering Minas Sally Hins, he would resign from the case. Otto was one of 15 lawyers on Jessica's legal team. As they looked further into the case, they discovered that all wasn't as it seemed in the trial by media. First and foremost, there was the question of why Jessica would have chosen Olivia Café as the place to commit a murder. Not only was it a popular busy spot, but if Jessica was aware of the CCTV cameras like investigators asserted, then why wouldn't she have simply chosen a quieter location that didn't have any security cameras? The fact that Jessica had arrived at Olivia Café and now and a half ahead of the agreed upon meeting time was viewed as proof that she'd come to scope the place out in preparation for Minas murder. But according to Jessica, she only arrived so early because of the three-in-one traffic rule that was in place in Chicago at the time. To avoid congestion on the roads of the densely populated city, only cars with three or more passengers were allowed to use the main roads during peak periods. She said she'd only arrived early because she had to, not because she wanted to. That should also be made about Jessica's decision to order her friends drinks ahead of time, with the implication being that she did this so she could slip the cyanide into Minas' drink. But Jessica claimed that she'd ordered the drinks expecting them to be served by the time Miner and Hania arrived. What's up messages sent between the group at the time confirmed that Miner and Hania had been running late that afternoon. If Miner and Hania had arrived on time, like Jessica expected, her defense team pointed out that she wouldn't have had the opportunity to administer the cyanide. The messages also showed that Jessica told Miner she was going to order the Vietnamese iced coffee for her ahead of time, to which Miner agreed. For the defense team, Jessica's message to Miner's twin sister Sandy about the lab results wasn't an attempt to see if she'd been caught, but because she was genuinely curious to know how her friend had died. The article she'd sent Sandy about cyanide-laced coffee being sold in Vietnam wasn't an indication that Jessica knew Miner had been poisoned with cyanide either, but simply proved that she was looking for any possible information about what might have happened to her friend. The fact that Jessica was staying in a hotel with packed suitcases at the time of her arrest wasn't an indication that she intended to flee the country. She and her parents had moved there to escape the throngs of journalists who had camped outside of their home. With no evidence to suggest how Jessica could have sourced the cyanide and to no footage of her removing anything from her handbag or putting anything into the iced coffee, her defense team questioned the validity of the prosecution's case entirely. The timing of the so-called suspicious movements that Jessica had made behind the gift bags coincided with a text message that she had sent to Miner. They believed that any movement she made could be attributed to that, and they didn't think there was anything suspicious about the gift bags either. Jessica claimed she had simply wanted to buy her friends a present. As for her unusually composed demeanor after Miner's death and when fronting reporters, Jessica explained that she was generally a calm person, and she didn't want to show her true emotions in front of the cameras. Confused about how to deal with the whole saga, she said she wanted to bury the memory of what happened on January 6th. But above all, there was one major detail that the defense team couldn't get past. The lethal oral dose of cyanide for a human of Miner's weight was around 171 mg. Toxicology testing of the Vietnamese iced coffee handed over by staff at Olivia Café detected 7,400 mg per liter of cyanide in the glass served to Miner and 7,900 mg per liter in the water bottle into which staff had poured the remaining liquid after the incident. However, toxicology tests conducted on samples taken from Miner's body 70 minutes after she died had revealed no traces of cyanide in her gastric fluid, bile or urine. Further samples taken three days after she died had revealed just 0.2 mg per liter of cyanide in her stomach. Not only was this incredibly low dose not enough to be fatal, but no cyanide was detected in her bowel or liver, which would be expected in a case of cyanide poisoning. Her skin also hadn't shown a reddish hue, which is another total cyan of cyanide poisoning. By the time those second samples had been taken, Miner's body had already been embalmed. Jessica's defense team spoke to at least two forensic pathologists who explained that the low levels of cyanide detected in Miner's stomach could have been produced post-mortem, possibly during the embalming process. Because her family hadn't approved a full lotopsy, none of her organs, such as her brain, lungs or heart, had been tested. And without these tests, the forensic pathologists said it couldn't be proven that Miner hadn't died from natural causes. This was a huge piece of information for the defense. If Miner hadn't been poisoned, it explained why Hane and the cafe staff who tasted the iced coffee hadn't fallen sick despite the high levels of cyanide found in the drink. As far as the defense was concerned, the only way to explain the lack of cyanide in Miner's system was that the cyanide had been added to the drink after Miner drank it. Case file will be back shortly. Thank you for supporting us by listening to this episode's sponsors. Really? Here indeed we're more sure than tell. Our profiles help you showcase your skills and experience so employers can focus on what you do, not what you talk about. Because actions speak louder than buzzwords. Download the Indeed app and start making the world work better for you today. Thank you for listening to this episode's ads. By supporting our sponsors, you support Case file to continue to deliver quality content. By the time Jessica Wongso's highly anticipated trial for the murder of Miner Sully Hinn commenced in June 2016, it had been dubbed to Indonesia's trial of the century. In terms of public interest, it was likened to the OJ Simpson murder trial in the United States with the topic of Jessica's possible guilt deemed a national obsession. Camera crews filled the courthouse with three television stations set to broadcast around the clock live feed of the proceedings complete with commentaries. Indonesia operates under a civil law system. In criminal trials, there is no jury. Instead, a team of public prosecutors goes head to head with a defense team while a panel of three judges determines the fate of the accused. The proceedings are inquisitorial in nature, meaning the judges are allowed to question witnesses directly. They sit at the head of the room while witnesses sit alone in a chair in the center of the court and the two legal teams are placed at either side. During opening arguments, the prosecution presented their theory that a jealous Jessica Wongso had been motivated to kill Miner Sully Hinn to avenge the pain she felt over her breakup with Patrick O'Connor. They believed Jessica had arrived at a Livia Cafe armed with the cyanide and intentionally chose a table out of view of the security cameras, where she used the three gift bags to further shield what she was about to do. Ordering the drinks before her friends arrival, she administered the cyanide behind the bags and then watched on with barely famed concern as the poison took its toll on Miner. The defense team argued there was no evidence to prove any such claims. One of her lawyers stated, it does not make sense that Jessica flew all the way from Australia to Indonesia to murder Miner. It also does not make sense that Jessica would murder Miner because she had once asked Jessica to end her relationship with her boyfriend at the time. Turning to the judges, he asked, why is Jessica the only one suspected of murder when she did not do anything unusual and nobody witnessed her putting cyanide into the coffee? The defense said the possibility that someone else was responsible for the poisoning couldn't be discounted. A bartender from a Livia Cafe testified to having poured Miner's iced coffee into an empty water bottle and handing it over to the police for testing. While some staff members recalled that the glass had been being secured in cling wrap and handed to the police too, the bartender testified that he had returned the empty glass to the cafe pantry. Otto Hasebuan pointed out that the police brief of evidence said that cyanide was found in the water bottle as well as the coffee glass. If the bartender's testimony was correct, then what glass had police used for testing? The police had also asked the Livia's manager to provide them with a glass of Vietnamese iced coffee they could compare to Miner's drink as well as another empty water bottle that they could pour the comparison beverage into. Therefore, if the bartender had misremembered, the police should have had two glasses and two bottles. Yet, their brief of evidence inexplicably mentioned just one bottle and two glasses. Given these inconsistencies and the fact that no one else who tasted the drink became severely ill, the defense said it couldn't be ruled out that either the cafe staff or the police could have added the cyanide to the iced coffee after Miner drank it, but before it was tested. This wasn't an outlandish allegation to make. The Indonesian legal system is notoriously corrupt, with the judges and prosecutors known to take bribes from people in positions of power. Rumors had circulated that Miner's father could have worked with the police to secure a conviction against Jessica at any cost necessary. Although there was absolutely no evidence to support such an allegation, talk of corruption had surrounded the case from the very beginning. The defense also pointed out that Olivia's barista, Runga Seputra, had disposed of the hot water from the kettle that had been used to make Miner's iced coffee. They suggested this could have been a deliberate move to ensure the water couldn't be tested for cyanide. Loya Oto has a bond claimed to have seen a police file with a confession from Runga Seputra, in which he admitted he was hired to kill Miner, but that this file had mysteriously disappeared. Taking the witness stand, Runga denied having gotten rid of the hot water that had been used to make Miner's iced coffee. He then changed his mind and said he wasn't sure if he had. This inconsistency raised some eyebrows about his credibility, but when asked if he'd accepted any money from Miner's husband, Arif Samarco to commit the murder, Runga vehemently denied it. At the time of the trial, he was still employed at Olivia Cafe. If I received the money, I would have quit my job, he stated. The prosecution said it didn't matter if the hot water used to make the iced coffee had been disposed of. Experts testified that if the cyanide was put into hot water, the resulting steam would have given off a strong smell of burnt almonds, and in an enclosed space like the cafe, others who inhaled the steam would have also been poisoned. Given that no one else was affected, and even Jessica claimed that the coffee had smelled normal, the cyanide had to have been put into the drink when it was already cold. And the only one who went anywhere near the drink when it was cold was Jessica. Arif Samarco also rejected the allegation that he'd conspired to have Miner killed, saying he'd never met Runga Siputra before in his life. He testified about how angry Jessica had been at Miner for suggesting she'd break up with her boyfriend, and how this had led to Miner becoming afraid of Jessica's anger and not wanting to meet her alone. Jessica's anger issues were further solidified by the comments she allegedly made to her former boss in Sydney, Christie Carter. While Christie didn't give evidence, her statement detailing Jessica's suicide attempts, her threats to kill Christie and her mother, and her comments that she knew the right dosage to kill someone were read to the court. These comments appeared to lend further weight to testimony provided by several psychologists who described Jessica as being intelligent and confident with the narcissistic personality and a huge impulse to be at the center of attention. One clinical psychologist who had interviewed Jessica shortly after her arrest said that she was calm in situations where she could anticipate what was coming next, but it was when something unexpected happened that her emotions ignited. Having studied the CCTV footage from Olivia Cafe, this psychologist believed that Jessica showed no signs of panic when Miner collapsed. Even when Jessica walked over to fetch some water for Miner, she didn't hurry. A criminologist from the University of Jakarta testified that he'd interviewed Jessica twice at the police station during which he'd used busyonomy. The practice of assessing a person's character based on their outer appearance. Studying Jessica's facial features and expressions while they spoke, he determined that she had a narcissistic personality and a great desire to be loved. While he didn't find her to have psychopath traits, he did find her to be emotionally unstable, spiteful, and unable to tolerate criticism. A criminologist for the defense team refuted that a criminologist has no place examining an individual's gestures without assistance from a psychologist. She told the judges, Physionomy is only used to describe potential offenses or people who have the potential to commit a crime. It can't be used to determine whether someone is guilty. But the major argument for Jessica's innocence stemmed from the results of the toxicology testing in which only small traces of cyanide were detected in Miner's stomach several days after her death. The forensic pathologist who examined Miner's body testified that her stomach and esophagus had turned black, which clearly indicated that she had been poisoned using a very toxic substance. A police toxicology expert told the court that after his expert team conducted a series of tests, he had no doubt that Miner was killed by the cyanide. But Dr. Gaya Suria at Marja, a forensic pathologist from the University of Indonesia, testified for the defense that these traces of cyanide in Miner's stomach had probably come from the embarramine chemicals that were used to preserve her body, and that there was nothing to disprove that Miner hadn't died from natural causes. If you don't check all the organs, you can't determine the cause of death. Dr. at Marja stated to the court, that's forensic's dogma. We wouldn't know whether Miner had a stroke, for example, unless you examined her brain. Would the lungs be infected with certain diseases or not? Not to mention the heart. All of these are potential causes of death. Dr. at Marja also said that one of the telltale signs of cyanide poisoning is a red discoloration of the skin. When Miner was first brought into the morgue, he said her skin was blue. However, once the news got out that she had died from cyanide poisoning, the photos circulated online, and her skin was clearly red. The red-tinged photos had been submitted to the court by Miner's father earlier that day. According to Dr. at Marja, those photos could have been easily altered, acclaimed that caused commotion in the courtroom, and provoked Miner's father to stand up in shock and voice his outrage. Two other forensic pathologists from Australia supported Dr. at Marja's testimony that the low levels of cyanide found in Miner's stomach couldn't rule out the possibility that she had died from natural causes. One said, if you take the toxicology results as they are, and the explanation that the very low level of the gastric content was due to post-mortem changes, then it is impossible, in my view, to conclude that the death was due to cyanide poisoning. The less than optimal quality autopsy has failed in its primary duty to the deceased than her family, the accused, and the justice system, which is to provide, as definitively as possible, a cause of death. Another stated plainly, these toxicology results show there is no evidence of cyanide ingestion. By the time Jessica Wongso took the stand in her own defence, the trial had gone on for three and a half months. Hearing said run from morning to night, with some going as late as 2am. While it had been an exhausting time for all involved, the defence's evidence appeared to be having an impact on public perception. Jessica had gained more supporters, with many viewing the trial as a farce in which the prosecution was relying on flimsy and unreliable evidence. Others were more convinced of her guilt than ever, and resented the defence team's decision to call upon Australian expert witnesses instead of fellow Indonesians. One of the forensic pathologists was even arrested for misusing his tourist visa to testify at the trial and deported to Australia. It was pointed out that nobody seemed to care when this same pathologist had used a tourist visa when he'd been asked to help identify victims of the Bali bombing terrorist attacks back in 2002. As Jessica took her seat in front of the panel of judges, she maintained her trademark calm and composed demeanor. She denied that the conversation in which Mina had supposedly told her to break up with Patrick had ever even happened, saying she hadn't ever told Mina anything about her relationship. I just told Mina I was close with one guy she told the judges. I didn't even tell her Patrick's name. One of the prosecutors asked, how could a Reef-no-Patrick's name when you never told Mina about him? Unfazed, Jessica told the judge he would have to ask a Reef that. She also said that 90% of the allegations made by her former boss, Kristi Carter, were untrue. Jessica dispelled the rumours that she was a lesbian, stating, a lot of the expert statements are untrue and I want to say it firmly that I'm only interested in men in the past, now, and in the future. Jessica said she hadn't lied when she told Mina's father that she had ordered mineral water at the cafe that day. Mina had asked for some after tasting the bad coffee and CCTV footage captured Jessica going to get it for her, it just wasn't noted on their bill. She also rejected the claims that Mina was reluctant or scared to meet with her alone, saying it was Mina who had initiated several of their catch-ups in Sydney. Some compared Jessica's calm to Mina to that of Amanda Knox, an American woman who was wrongfully convicted of murdering her housemate Meredith Kircher, as covered in episode 270 of Case File. Instead of appearing nervous or intimidated, some thought Jessica was mocking the prosecutors. When one of them asked her whether Vietnamese iced coffee is served hot or cold, Jessica rast sarcastically, well, what do you think? A moment that went viral on social media. Her attitude while giving her testimony only divided members of the public further. As Johannes Nagroho explained in his article for foreign policy, while Jessica's sometimes contemptuous demeanor in court may have won hearts among the middle class, it could only aggravate her image with those prejudiced against her from the outset. Jessica told the judges she was being vilified by the prosecutors and the press, who had made her entire personal life a topic of discussion. If she acted calm, she was interpreted as being a cold-blooded murderer. But if she cried or showed emotion, that was criticized too. Whatever I do is wrong, Jessica said. In closing arguments, prosecutors demanded that Jessica be given a 20-year sentence for the sorrow she had caused Mina's loved ones. They called her sadistic and cruel to have intentionally killed her friend in a way that would have caused great pain and pointed out that she had shown no remorse. The defense countered that Jessica had shown no remorse because she had not committed the crime. After almost five months of hearings on Thursday, October 27, 2016, the judges delivered their verdict. They concluded there were only three parties that could have possibly put the cyanide in Mina's drink, a liveaer staff, the police, or Jessica Wongso. They ruled out the cafe staff on the basis that the iced coffee had looked completely normal in the CCTV footage, and that no other patrons in the cafe had smelt burnt almonds or collapsed, supporting the notion that the cyanide had been put in the coffee after it was already cold. Furthermore, the judges believed it was logical to assume that a guilty staff member would have immediately disposed of any evidence, rather than handing it over to the police. The fact that Mina had complained about the taste of the coffee and waived her hand in front of her mouth after drinking it, coupled with the fact that Harnie and at least two staff members tasted the coffee and noted it as foul, meant the cyanide was in there before the police arrived. This proved to the judges that the police had not tampered with the evidence or added the cyanide to the coffee after confiscating it. With the cafe staff and police ruled out, that just left one explanation. Jessica Wongso was the one who ordered the iced coffee. She was the one who placed the gift bags on the table to obscure the view of the cameras, and she was the only one who had access to the beverage before Mina drank it. For the premeditated murder of Mina Sully Hinn, the judges found Jessica Wongso guilty and sentenced her to 20 years in prison. Mina's loved ones broke down in tears of relief while Jessica maintained her composure. She looked at the judge and said, thank you, Your Honor, I don't accept the verdict. Her lawyer, Oto Hazabuan, was shaken. He told the court, because the judge's decision is unfair, biased, and it definitely not according to the law, this trial has sounded the death knell for justice. As a result, we firmly announce that we'll file an appeal. With that, a round of applause and cheering erupted. Outside court, Mina's father told reporters that even though he hoped Jessica would get the death sentence, he respected the judge's decision. The most important thing is that it has been proven that Jessica has killed Mina, he said. Jessica's legal team immediately filed an appeal, arguing that the judges had ignored key evidence that cast significant doubt on whether Mina had actually died from cyanide poisoning, and if she had, whether Jessica was the perpetrator. They argued that the testimony from Jessica's former boss and the CCTV footage taken from Olivia Café should never have been admitted in court. The prosecution had an aired the original footage, only a police copy, and the original had never been given to the defense. They argued that the footage could have been tampered with, or certain frames could have been deleted. Jessica's appeal was rejected by both the High Court and the Supreme Court, sparking further debate about whether or not she had received a fair trial. Many believed that the judges had made their minds up about her guilt from the very beginning, and were too quick to believe the prosecution's version of events without adequate evidence to support it. One of the trial judges even said so in an interview with Tampa Magazine just days after the verdict was delivered. For me, this case was very simple, he said. The relationship between the defendant and the victim was very close. A person who poisons another person is acquainted with that person. Just look at it from when Jessica came until she ordered a drink. That's the extent of it. The poison was put in when the drink was cold. If cyanide is put into hot water, everyone around would have been poisoned by inhaling the steam. It is as simple as that. Simon Bart is a professor of Indonesian law at the University of Sydney Law School. After examining the case against Jessica Wongso in detail, he concluded that her trial was not fair based on the standards of the Indonesian legal system. He found that police had interrogated Jessica without a lawyer present, searched her parents' house without a warrant, detained her without reasonable cause, failed to water a full autopsy to establish men's cause of death, and mishandled, perhaps even contaminated, the coffee they claimed killed men are. In the new Criminal Law Review, Professor Simon Bart wrote that, Procedural irregularities and legal mistakes plagued Wongso's case from the very beginning. He argued that the prosecution fell well short of meeting the evidentiary standard, while the court paid insufficient, arguably no, regard to the defense. He suggested the judges may have been swayed to convict due to public pressure, noting they swallowed the prosecution's case and drew strange conclusions from Wongso's demeanor without properly addressing significant holes in the evidence. Rejecting the possibility of natural causes, the court instead relied on process of elimination reasoning. In 2023, Netflix released a documentary on the contentious case titled Ice Cold, Murder, Coffee, and Jessica Wongso, which featured exclusive interviews with several important figures, including men as father and lawyers from both the prosecution and defense teams. The highly anticipated film propelled the case back into the spotlight and gained international attention, leading to renewed discussion about whether or not Jessica Wongso had been wrongfully convicted. The film put Jessica in a sympathetic light, leading to a shift in public opinion, despite criticism about its lack of journalistic rigor and balance, with some critics labeling the documentary as sensationalistic. The following year in August 2024, Jessica was granted parole, having served just eight years of her 20-year sentence. Officials said their decision had nothing to do with the Netflix documentary, but was based on Jessica's good behavior, which included her teaching English and yoga to other prisoners. The now 36-year-old walked straight into a press conference, saying she didn't have anything planned for her release, but she had forgiven everyone who wronged her. In May 2025, Jessica agreed to participate in an exclusive interview with Australian journalist Liam Bartlett for Channel 7's Spotlight program. It was a highly anticipated interview that attracted millions of viewers. As had become her trademark, Jessica didn't appear at all ruffled by any of Liam's direct questions and was able to laugh off for explain away any uncomfortable moments. She also appeared to have backtracked on her claims about her friendship with Mina, saying, we weren't close at all. It was because we came from the same country. That was why we kind of like know each other. We weren't best friends or anything. Jessica told Liam she never scoped out Olivia Café for security cameras and that if the footage made it appear that way, it was only because she was looking around at the place and people. As for the gift bags that she moved around to the table, Jessica smiled as she said, that's just me being me, you know, being bored. It really doesn't mean anything at all. She said the fact that the bags shielded the drinks from the security cameras was a pure coincidence. Liam asked Jessica why she was scratching her hands on the CCTV footage while Mina was getting first aid. Jessica explained it as a habit of hers stating, it's not because it's itchy or something from poison or something like that. Liam jumped in. I'm not saying that, he clarified. You made the suggestion. I'm just saying you're standing there scratching your hands, but you're not helping. It was yet another awkward moment that Jessica managed to brush off. She said she had never heard of cyanide before Mina's death. Prompting Liam to point out it was therefore strange that she had contacted Mina's twin sister the day after Mina died and asked about the results of the toxicology tests. Jessica explained she knew that samples had been taken and she was simply curious to know how Mina had died. As for the restraining order her ex-boyfriend Patrick had taken out against her, Jessica said the story was complicated and not like it sounds, explaining, the relationship was kind of like toxic in a way. We didn't really see eye to eye on a lot of things. Jessica said she had no idea why people said that Mina was afraid to be alone around her. Asked if she had the potential to be violent, Jessica laughed and said, no, of course not. What would I do? Liam told Jessica he wondered why she didn't get an invite to Mina and her reef sweating. She began to stammer saying, because I was in Australia I couldn't be bothered to like fly over just to attend their wedding. Liam pressed on saying, but you didn't get that choice, did you? She didn't invite you. Jessica looked stunned, pausing for a moment before saying, I can't remember, didn't she invite me? I can't even remember. She burst into giggles when Liam asked her about the time she drove her car into the nursing home. When he said she was lucky that she didn't die, Jessica responded, yeah, do you think I'm lucky? After everything I've been through, you think I'm lucky. Jessica Wongso will be held on parole in Jakarta until 2032. She maintains her innocence in Mina's murder and has filed a judicial review against her conviction in the hopes that she will be officially exonerated from the crime. In the meantime, Spotlight reported that she is trying to make a living as an influencer, with brand deals coming in from beauty, food and tech companies. Indonesia's largest coffee chank in Argonne Coffee has even reached out to her about collaborating with them. Jessica told Liam Bartlett she couldn't imagine working a regular office job after everything that she'd been through. When he quipped that no one would trust her to do the coffee run, she laughed heartily. The question of whether or not Jessica Wongso is guilty of murdering Mina Sally Hinn is still debated almost a decade later. Professor Simon Bart stated in his journal article, whether she is guilty or innocent, Wongso should not have been convicted. As has been shown, her trial was unfair, as was her treatment by police. Wongso's case illustrates that Indonesia's laws of criminal procedure require an urgent overhaul to better protect the rights of suspects and defendants, though this is unlikely in the foreseeable future. Some of you Jessica as an innocent victim of Indonesia's broken justice system, while others see her as a cold-blooded and manipulative killer masquerading as the victim. In-Denisian news presenter Timothy Marbun who hosted a daily show covering Jessica's trial for the Compass TV network, likened to Jessica to a villain from a film. He told Australia's 60 minutes, when you watch a movie, when the villain is that good, you don't even want them to die. Mina Sally Hinn's loved ones have never swayed from their belief that Jessica was responsible for Mina's death. Her father Eddie Sally Hinn told Netflix he is a million percent sure that Jessica is guilty, saying, deep inside her, something is evil. Mina's twin sister Sandy moved to the German countryside with her husband to distance herself from the case and find some peace. Mina's husband, O'Reefe Samako, has remarried and no longer publicly discusses the case. However, back in 2016, when Jessica's trial was underway, he fondly told reporters how he had first met Mina in 2006. They got to know each other over the course of the year before they started dating. O'Reefe cried as he recalled how happy he'd been during their courtship, saying, I was so happy to meet Mina. She changed my life so much. She also introduced me to God. She was kind to everyone. She didn't discriminate and she treated everyone equally. He proudly recalled watching Mina in the lead up to their wedding, in awe of her creativity as she designed the small details of their wedding decorations. O'Reefe told reporters that despite the public focus on Jessica, quote, when people follow the case, I always think of Mina. Hey guys, it's Angela from Get A Grip and this message is brought to you from M&S. Love that. If I see someone with a fab coat, I'll be like, love your coat. Nice shoes, hon. Very smart jeans. Sending and receiving compliments is the best feeling, especially when it comes to style. Those compliments are extra special. Well gang, there is a new spring collection that has just arrived at M&S and it is full of compliment worthy must-haves to refresh your wardrobe with. Shop the new M&S spring collection online and in store and get set for compliments galore. Love that. Round of hide and seek. I'm not playing. As ready or not to, hit cinemas. Okay, come sister. From the directors of Screams Sex in Abigail. And so it begins. Ready or not to, here I come, in cinemas March 20th, Certificate 15. Look tickets now.