NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / World

Indonesia murder trial: 'I have no doubt that she is capable of ... killing another person'

By Simone Mitchell
news.com.au·
9 Oct, 2016 04:30 PM6 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Australian resident Jessica Wongso (right) is accused of murdering her best friend in a cafe in Jakarta. Photo / 60 Minutes

Australian resident Jessica Wongso (right) is accused of murdering her best friend in a cafe in Jakarta. Photo / 60 Minutes

It's been described as "Indonesia's trial of the century".

Jessica Kumala Wongso, an Australian permanent resident, is accused of murdering her former Sydney design school classmate and friend Wayan Mirna Salihin, who collapsed and died after drinking an iced coffee at a Jakarta cafe in January.

Prosecutors allege the 27-year-old decided to kill the victim with cyanide after Mirna, also 27, advised her to break up with her Australian boyfriend Patrick O'Connor because he was allegedly on drugs.

60 Minutes delved into the case on Sunday evening, as the media circus surrounding the trial intensifies - the courtroom tends to have at least 15 cameras at any one time and there is now a "live Jessica Wongso trial show" on Indonesia's Kompas TV.

The murdered girl's twin sister Sandy Salihin told 60 Minutes' Ross Coulthart she believes Wongso is "enjoying the media" surrounding the trial and can't believe how "happy" Wongso appears to be about her current situation.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"I think she's enjoying the attention. I think she likes the attention because she doesn't have that, maybe ... Yeah, I think she's enjoying the media".

She also believes that Wongso was motivated by envy.

"She's jealous of Mirna because maybe Mirna have a good life ... she just married and she have a good future ahead of her, and maybe Jessica's life is crap," she tearfully told Coulthart on camera.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Mirna Salihin with her husband, Arief Soemarko. Photo / Facebook
Mirna Salihin with her husband, Arief Soemarko. Photo / Facebook

According to various sources, things started to go off track between the friends two years ago when Mirna (who had moved back to Indonesia following her studies) holidayed in Sydney and caught up with Wongso. But the two women clashed over a meal when Mirna gave Wongso frank advice to dump her then boyfriend.

Mirna's husband, Arief Soemarko, said after the dinner his wife became cautious of Wongso.

"After that meeting, she grew a fear of Jessica, like, she don't want to meet her face-to-face just the two of them. She wants someone to accompany her," he told 60 Minutes.

Following the falling out, Wongso's behaviour in Sydney became more and more troubling.

Discover more

World

Cyanide-laced coffee: Killer jailed

27 Oct 04:23 PM
World

Coffee cyanide murder appeal

01 Nov 06:44 PM

She was hospitalised five times last year after self harming.

Mirna Salihin on her wedding day. Photo / Facebook
Mirna Salihin on her wedding day. Photo / Facebook

In August she crashed her car into a Leichhardt nursing home only metres from the bedrooms of dozens of elderly residents. Police were of the opinion she had been drinking.

Soon after Wongso's accident, Mirna and Soemarko married in Bali. He is of the opinion their wedding sent Wongso into a jealous rage.

"Because Mirna grew cautious of Jessica, we didn't invite her to the wedding," he explained.

Days after the wedding, back in Sydney, Wongso was sacked from her job with NSW Ambulance.

She then returned to Jakata and made plans to catch up with Mirna and another Australian college friend, Hani Juwita.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

On January 6 this year, they agreed to meet up at Olivier, a cafe in an up-market Jakarta shopping centre. Strangely, Wongso messaged her friends hours before, insisting she pre-order their drinks.

Wongso's arrival at the cafe was caught on CCTV at 3.30pm - more than 90 minutes before her friends were due to arrive.

The iced coffee has become a key piece of evidence. Photo / 60 Minutes
The iced coffee has become a key piece of evidence. Photo / 60 Minutes

Wongso can be seen leaving the restaurant soon after she gets there. She says she left to buy presents for her two friends. She is seen returning with three large bags, each containing a small bottle of liquid soap.

She then places the large bags at the edge of the table - police say she did this to obscure the view of the security cameras.

About an hour before her friends arrive, Wongso orders an iced coffee and two other drinks and places them behind the paper bags. This is when police say she laced Mirna's drink with cyanide.

Within moments of sitting down, Mirna takes a sip of her iced coffee. Soon she is frothing at the mouth.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Police claim the footage shows Wongso calmly watching on as Mirna take her last gasps of breath. As Mirna's twin sister points out, "she is the only person who is not crying".

Wongso then asks the cafe staff what they put in her friend's coffee. The accusation unnerved the staff member on duty, so they kept the cups and their contents ... without realising it, they were retaining what would be a vital piece of evidence in a murder case.

Wongso's defence lawyer Otto Hasibuan is focusing on autopsy results that show no cyanide was found in any of Mirna's organs other than her stomach. But one of the world's top toxicologists, Australian Professor Ian Whyte from Newcastle's Calvary Mater Hospital, told 60 Minutes that's not at all unusual - the fact that there is no cyanide found in the heart, brain, lungs or liver three days afterwards doesn't indicate there was no cyanide used to murder that person.

Timothy Marbun, who hosts the live coverage of Wongso's trial on Indonesian television, says there's one other "big missing link" in the case.

Mirna's twin sister, Sandy Salihin. Photo / 60 Minutes
Mirna's twin sister, Sandy Salihin. Photo / 60 Minutes

"There is no cyanide on [Wongso], there is no instance of her putting anything in the drink. She did touch the drink, she did move the drink, but moving a drink doesn't kill anyone," he explains.

A damning assessment of Wongso's character comes courtesy of her former boss Kristie Carter, the head of media and marketing at NSW Ambulance in Sydney.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

A statement from Carter to Indonesia police was read out by prosecutors at Jakarta District Court on Tuesday morning, following a marathon hearing.

In the statement Carter described Wongso as a woman with "two personalities".

"At one time, I saw Jessica as someone kind, who loves to smile and suddenly she could be someone quick to anger when someone didn't follow what she wanted.

"I have observed her for the last 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," she said.

Carter told Indonesian police that Jessica once admitted to knowing how to use poison to kill. It happened when she was in hospital, recovering from one of her incidents of self harm.

"I visited her. She said, 'I want to go home. They're treating me like I killed someone. If I wanted to kill someone, I'd know exactly the right dose.'"

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Then, just two months before Mirna's death, Carter received a death threat.

"Jessica threatened me by saying, 'You have to die, and your mum should die too.'"

Her comments are part of a dossier on Wongso collected by the Australian Federal Police and handed over to their Indonesian counterparts.

Australian Federal Police only co-operated with the Indonesian police on the promise that a guilty Wongso would not be sent to the firing squad.

But according to 60 Minutes the judges have made it clear that they don't see themselves as being bound by any such undertaking.

Mirna's twin sister is certainly hoping for the death penalty:

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"I would like to see justice for my sister and eye for an eye ... You know what I'm saying? Like, it's ... A life for a life".

A verdict is expected later this month.

- Additional reporting: Megan Palin

Save

    Share this article

Latest from World

World

'Not an attack': Zoo owner defends lioness after woman loses arm

08 Jul 07:50 AM
World

‘Not happy’: Trump criticises Putin as US vows more arms for Ukraine

08 Jul 06:12 AM
World

Trump's tariff threats spark uncertainty, target key US allies

08 Jul 05:51 AM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from World

'Not an attack': Zoo owner defends lioness after woman loses arm

'Not an attack': Zoo owner defends lioness after woman loses arm

08 Jul 07:50 AM

A woman remains in hospital after being injured by a big cat at Darling Downs Zoo.

‘Not happy’: Trump criticises Putin as US vows more arms for Ukraine

‘Not happy’: Trump criticises Putin as US vows more arms for Ukraine

08 Jul 06:12 AM
Trump's tariff threats spark uncertainty, target key US allies

Trump's tariff threats spark uncertainty, target key US allies

08 Jul 05:51 AM
Court reveals mystery of missing phone in Erin Patterson murder trial

Court reveals mystery of missing phone in Erin Patterson murder trial

08 Jul 04:55 AM
Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP