Latest news with #Wongso
NDTV
a day ago
- NDTV
Woman, Who Poisoned Friend's Coffee With Cyanide In 2016, Denies Being Close
Jessica Wongso, the woman convicted of poisoning her 27-year-old friend's coffee in 2016, has been released from prison after eight years. Named the Iced Coffee Killer, Wongso, a permanent resident of Australia, has denied being close to Wayan Mirna Salihin, whom she met at a design college in Sydney, Australia. She also avoided directly answering whether she was responsible for her death. At her press conference, she said she had forgiven everyone who wronged her, reported ABC Australia. She claimed that the two weren't best friends and were just from the same country. After graduation, Ms Salihin went back to Indonesia, while Wongso stayed back, she said. According to the Times, Wongso allegedly arrived at the cafe first, placed shopping bags on the table to block the view of CCTV footage, and then ordered drinks for Ms Salihin and another friend. During the interview, she defended her behaviour, saying she was simply bored and liked to shuffle and play with them. "Oh, it's just me being me. I just put it there, shuffle it and play with it. It really doesn't mean anything at all... just me being bored," she stated. Wongso said that Ms Salihin found the coffee tasted weird and soon became sick. Recalling the moment, she said, "I think she [Ms Salihin] just took a sip and after that, she was saying something like, it tastes really weird and stuff, and after that, she got really sick. And that's it. That's pretty much all I remember," reported PEOPLE. When asked about the murder, she said there were so many things she was not allowed to discuss publicly, including whether she killed her friend. Asked if someone else did it, Wongso simply responded, "Maybe." According to PEOPLE, just when Ms Salihin took a sip of coffee, she immediately collapsed. She was taken to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Wongso was arrested in 2018 after she was found guilty of slipping cyanide into Ms Salihin's Vietnamese coffee at a cafe. She was sentenced to 20 years in prison but was released in 2024 on the condition that she would stay in Jakarta until 2032.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
She Slipped Cyanide into Her Friend's Iced Coffee, Killing Her in Minutes: Here's What She Said Recently on TV
Jessica Wongso, dubbed the "Iced Coffee Killer" speaks out in new interview with Australian television Wongso was convicted of premeditated murder in the 2016 death of her 27-year-old friend Mirna Salihin Wongso has maintained her innocenceJessica Wongso, who was found guilty of dosing her friend's iced coffee with cyanide and has since been released from an Indonesian prison, recently spoke to Australian television about her alleged crime. Wongso, dubbed the 'Iced Coffee Killer,' was convicted of the premeditated murder of her 27-year-old friend Mirna Salihin in 2018. She was sentenced to 20 years in prison but was released in 2024 after eight years behind bars, ABC Australia reported. At a press conference after her prison release, Wongso, who has maintained her innocence, told reporters that she had "forgiven everyone who wronged" her, according to ABC Australia. Wongso was accused of slipping cyanide into the friend's iced Vietnamese coffee at an upscale café in Jan. 2016 in Jakarta, Indonesia, per the New York Times. 'This deed was vile and sadistic, committed against her own friend,' said the chief judge, according to the Times. Video footage allegedly showed Wongso arriving first at the café, ordering drinks for Salihin — who she met at a design college in Sydney — and another friend before placing shopping bags on the table to allegedly obstruct the view of closed-circuit television footage, the Times reported. Soon after, Salihin arrived, took a sip of the coffee and then immediately collapsed, according to the Times. She was taken to the hospital where she soon died. During trial, prosecutors argued that Wongso killed Salihin because Salihin had suggested she should break up with a former boyfriend and was jealous that Salihin recently got married, according to the Times. PEOPLE' In an interview on 7News Spotlight, Wongso denied that she was close friends with Salihin. "We weren't close at all,' she told journalist Liam Bartlett. 'We came from the same country. We weren't best friends or anything. After graduation she went back to Indonesia for good and I stayed in Australia." Asked by Bartlett why she placed the three bags on the table, Wongso responded: 'Oh, it's just me being me,' she said. 'Like I just put it there and it's like shuffle it and play with it. And it's like me just, you know, being bored, it really doesn't mean anything at all. Like if I have to be honest with you.' About the moment when Salihin took a sip, Wongso said: 'I think she just took a sip and after that she was saying something like, it tastes really weird and stuff, and after that she got really sick. And that's it. That's pretty much all I remember." When asked about her friend's death by cyanide, Wongso responded, that "There's a lot of things that I'm not allowed to say, like in public, including stating things like I didn't do what people think that I did." 'But if you didn't do it, somebody else did. Right?,' asked Bartlett. 'Maybe. I could only say, maybe,' she replied. As a condition of parole, Wongso is required to stay in Jakarta until 2032, per ABC Australia. Read the original article on People
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
She Slipped Cyanide into Her Friend's Iced Coffee, Killing Her in Minutes: Here's What She Said Recently on TV
Jessica Wongso, dubbed the "Iced Coffee Killer" speaks out in new interview with Australian television Wongso was convicted of premeditated murder in the 2016 death of her 27-year-old friend Mirna Salihin Wongso has maintained her innocenceJessica Wongso, who was found guilty of dosing her friend's iced coffee with cyanide and has since been released from an Indonesian prison, recently spoke to Australian television about her alleged crime. Wongso, dubbed the 'Iced Coffee Killer,' was convicted of the premeditated murder of her 27-year-old friend Mirna Salihin in 2018. She was sentenced to 20 years in prison but was released in 2024 after eight years behind bars, ABC Australia reported. At a press conference after her prison release, Wongso, who has maintained her innocence, told reporters that she had "forgiven everyone who wronged" her, according to ABC Australia. Wongso was accused of slipping cyanide into the friend's iced Vietnamese coffee at an upscale café in Jan. 2016 in Jakarta, Indonesia, per the New York Times. 'This deed was vile and sadistic, committed against her own friend,' said the chief judge, according to the Times. Video footage allegedly showed Wongso arriving first at the café, ordering drinks for Salihin — who she met at a design college in Sydney — and another friend before placing shopping bags on the table to allegedly obstruct the view of closed-circuit television footage, the Times reported. Soon after, Salihin arrived, took a sip of the coffee and then immediately collapsed, according to the Times. She was taken to the hospital where she soon died. During trial, prosecutors argued that Wongso killed Salihin because Salihin had suggested she should break up with a former boyfriend and was jealous that Salihin recently got married, according to the Times. PEOPLE' In an interview on 7News Spotlight, Wongso denied that she was close friends with Salihin. "We weren't close at all,' she told journalist Liam Bartlett. 'We came from the same country. We weren't best friends or anything. After graduation she went back to Indonesia for good and I stayed in Australia." Asked by Bartlett why she placed the three bags on the table, Wongso responded: 'Oh, it's just me being me,' she said. 'Like I just put it there and it's like shuffle it and play with it. And it's like me just, you know, being bored, it really doesn't mean anything at all. Like if I have to be honest with you.' About the moment when Salihin took a sip, Wongso said: 'I think she just took a sip and after that she was saying something like, it tastes really weird and stuff, and after that she got really sick. And that's it. That's pretty much all I remember." When asked about her friend's death by cyanide, Wongso responded, that "There's a lot of things that I'm not allowed to say, like in public, including stating things like I didn't do what people think that I did." 'But if you didn't do it, somebody else did. Right?,' asked Bartlett. 'Maybe. I could only say, maybe,' she replied. As a condition of parole, Wongso is required to stay in Jakarta until 2032, per ABC Australia. Read the original article on People
New York Post
3 days ago
- New York Post
‘Iced coffee killer' breaks silence 8 years after she's convicted of poisoning her best friend's drink
Indonesian convicted murderer and Australian permanent resident Jessica Kumala Wongso has appeared in a shocking new documentary. In it, she was dubbed the 'smiling iced coffee killer' and accused of 'brazenly' murdering her friend and fellow Indonesian Wayan Mirna Salihin in a glitzy cafe in Jakarta in 2016. Advertisement The new documentary entitled 'Chilling interview: Why Jessica Wongso murdered her best friend with poisoned coffee' aired on 7News Spotlight and has already racked up over two million views. According to the documentary, Wongso, who is currently on parole, 'still hasn't got her story straight' – despite having spent eight years in an Indonesian prison for the murder. Wongso was found guilty in 2016 by a Jakarta court of adding cyanide to an iced Vietnamese coffee that she bought for her friend Salihin, causing her to collapse and convulse in front of horrified patrons at the cafe. 8 Convicted murderer Jessica Kumala Wongso appeared in a new documentary about her infamous 2016 case where she poisoned a friend in a coffee shop in Indonesia. 7 News Spotlight Advertisement Salihin, who was just 27-years-old, was rushed to a nearby hospital where she was pronounced dead, and the Indonesian prosecution alleged that Wongso, who had previously studied at the Billy Blue College of Design in Sydney with Salihin, had been jealous of her friend who had just got married. Wongso has always denied the charges against her, and pleaded innocent at her trial, before she was convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison. She was released on parole last year having served just eight years of her sentence – and is currently filing a final appeal in a last-ditch bid to clear her name. 8 Wongso was found guilty of giving Wayan Mirna Salihin a coffee laced with cyanide in a Jakarta cafe. 7 News Spotlight Advertisement During the 44 minute sit-down, Spotlight journalist Liam Bartlett asked Wongso a series of tough questions about the murder, appearing both disappointed and shocked by some of her answers, including that Wongso and Salihin 'were not close at all' and were only acquaintances because they 'came from the same country.' Simon Butt, a professor of Indonesian law at the University of Sydney, told that the language used in the interview and its largely unsympathetic portrayal of Wongso was likely due to her ongoing legal status as a convicted murderer. 'Of course, legally, a program like this can proceed on the assumption that she was guilty of the murder. She was found to be so by successive Indonesian courts,' he said. 8 Surveillance footage from the coffee shop in 2016. 7 News Spotlight Advertisement 8 Prosecutors in Indonesia claimed that Wongso poisoned her friend because she was jealous of her recently getting married. 7 News Spotlight Yet he added that the documentary had a missed opportunity to shed greater light on her case, which gripped Indonesia back in 2016 and prompted widespread speculation by the public about Wongso's possible guilt or innocence. 'The intriguing part of her story is that, despite her conviction, there remains very strong doubts about whether she did in fact kill her friend,' Butt said. Butt argued that the Spotlight interview did not fully explain some of the nuances of Wongso's case. 'The program was one-sided, swallowing the very problematic decision, and appeals, whole. 'The program did not mention very problematic aspects of her conviction, including that no autopsy was conducted and there were serious problems with the handling of the coffee sample from the cafe. 'There was no cyanide found at the scene. Whether Salihin died of cyanide poisoning, and even whether the coffee itself had cyanide in it was, in my view, never established beyond reasonable doubt.' Advertisement Butt added that, as Wongso's defense lawyers continually stated, Sahilin could have died of natural causes, but the lack of a full and comprehensive autopsy means that this has never been fully established. 'These issues were not pursued in the program,' he added. 'That said, Wongso didn't help herself by agreeing to the interview before her final appeal has been concluded.' Under Indonesian law, a judicial review is usually only successful if there is compelling new evidence presented in a case that was not previously heard at the original trial. Advertisement Another one of the main issues with the Spotlight interview was the fact that Wongso repeatedly refused to answer or elaborate on questions put to her by Bartlett – and did not appear to emphatically deny guilt. 8 Wongso appearing in Central Jakarta District Court for her trial on Oct. 5, 2016. AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana Butt said however that Wongso told Bartlett that she could not protest her innocence as she remains on parole until 2032. 'If she did that, her parole might be revoked. Yet the journalist continually asked her to explain the way she acted and reacted at various times, including during her trial, and obviously drew implications from her failure to defend herself in her answers,' Butt said. Advertisement 'He put her in an impossible situation, over and over, asking her questions that an innocent person would be able to answer, and then appearing suspicious that her responses were strange or evasive.' 8 Wongso surrounded by her lawyers at her sentencing on Oct. 27, 2016. AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana One example was when Wongso was asked why she contacted Salihn's sister with a press story about the coffee poisoning and asked about the results of toxicology tests. 'He obviously thought this was somehow suspicious,' Butt said. Advertisement 'But if she did kill Salihin, one would not expect her to reveal the way she did it, especially considering police did not initially treat it as a murder. She could not make these points in the interview because she could not claim innocence.' A spokesperson for Spotlight told that they refute Butt's claims and added their interview was fair and balanced. 8 An Indonesian legal experts claimed that the lack of an autopsy has cast doubt on Wongso's conviction. 7 News Spotlight 'While we respect Professor Butt's right to an opinion, he appears to have confused our program with the Netflix documentary,' a spokesperon said. 'Our interview with convicted killer Jessica Wongso was thorough, comprehensive, and entirely balanced – covering all key aspects of the case. 'Jessica agreed to the interview on the advice of her own legal team, and we offered her lawyer to remain in the room for the duration of questioning. 'On no occasion did Jessica complain or indicate in any way, either during or following the interview, that we had placed her, as the Professor puts it, in an 'impossible situation.'' 8 Wongso is currently out on parole. 7 News Spotlight Ranto Sibarani, a lawyer based in the city of Medan in Indonesia, said that people needed to look at the facts of the case rather than conjecture. 'It is quite clear based on the evidence and the verdict of the three judges that Jessica was found guilty of murdering Mirna using cyanide,' Sibarani said. 'She has also shown herself to be extremely clever, as no one has been able to find the cyanide that she used, or the trousers that she was wearing at the time, which she admitted she threw away. 'Many people were suspicious of Wongso rubbing her hands on her trousers after Salihin collapsed in the coffee shop, all of which was caught on CCTV. 'Some suspected that cyanide residue on her hands was causing them to itch although, in the new documentary, Wongso denied this. 'She said instead that she had asked her helper to throw the trousers away as they had a rip in them which could not be repaired.' Talking of the new documentary, Sibarani said that he would never advise a client to speak to the media before all their legal appeals were exhausted. 'Particularly not one where they criticized the sentence or the legal proceedings,' he said.
