Melbourne lovers sentenced over cyanide poisoning of woman’s husband. / 7 news
Sedated, fast asleep in bed beside his son and with no means of fighting back, Sam Abraham was at the mercy of his once-loving wife and her secret boyfriend.
Armed with a glass of orange juice and cyanide, Melbourne mum Sofia Sam and her lover Arun Kamalasanan put the finishing touches on an elaborate plot that ended when the deadly cocktail was poured down Abraham's throat.
At first, it looked like the father-of-one's death at the couple's Epping home, north of Melbourne, was caused by a heart attack. But an autopsy revealed the truth.
Sam, 33, had been torn between two men — the man she moved halfway across the world with and her 36-year-old lover. She chose the latter, kept a secret diary professing her love for him and devised the plan to make good on a promise to "sleep in your arms".
On Thursday, in the Victorian Supreme Court, Sam and Kamalasanan were sentenced for Abraham's murder.
Sam was jailed for 22 years with a minimum of 18 and Kamalasanan was jailed for 27 years with a minimum of 23. The court heard Kamalasanan had planned the murder for three years and poured the glass of juice that killed his lover's husband.
Sitting metres from one another inside a packed courtroom, the pair said nothing as they learned their fate.
'His death was probably excruciating'
Dressed in a grey suit jacket and wearing thick, black-rimmed glasses, Kamalasanan was forced to listen as Justice Paul Coghlan read out grisly details of how the murder was carried out and what the pair did to conceal their involvement.
Justice Coghlan said the murder was premeditated and "probably excruciating" for the victim.
He said the 36-year-old Kamalasanan, who met Sam at university in India, sneaked into the family garage, gained entry through a window and sedated the family using an avocado smoothie Sam had prepared earlier.
Sam Abraham, who was found passed out and foaming at the mouth, was killed by cyanide poisoning. Photo / news.com.au
Sam, Abraham and the couple's son, now 9 years old, drank it.
When they were sleeping in the same bed, Kamalasanan sneaked into the bedroom and forced his victim to drink orange juice laced with the chemical compound.
"This is a very serious example of murder. You were the friend of Abraham," Justice Coghlan said.
He told the court Kamalasanan had "attempted to fabricate a mental illness over a period of three years" as "part of a plan" to escape culpability if he was ever caught.
Arun Kamalasanan won't be eligible for parole until at least 2041.
Justice Coghlan said the "well educated" Sam, a religious devotee who wore black from head to toe and looked down for most of her sentencing, showed no remorse.
Justice Coghlan admitted it was difficult to know conclusively what role Sam played in the murder of her husband but "he could not have been murdered without your knowledge and acquiescence".
'One day she will be mine'
Days after Abraham's murder, and with the autopsy results in hand, police moved slowly.
They suspected Sam and did not reveal to her the cause of her husband's death.
Instead, they watched her and Kamalasanan. Inside his apartment, they found a diary that confirmed their suspicions of a romantic involvement between the two killers.
Inside Sam's diary, which she gave to Kamalasanan shortly after he arrived in Australia from India, she wrote: "We never know why we like someone more than others." The day after, she wrote: "I feel to hug you and comfort you."
The diaries of Sofia Sam (right) have been submitted to the court over the killing of her husband Sam Abraham. Photo / news.com.au
On February 2, 2013, Sam wrote: "I'm waiting for you."
Six days later in either Hindi or Malay, she wrote: "I wish to sleep in your arms … I want to be yours but you are not mine."
On February 17, she wrote, "Miss you a lot dear. Can you hold me tight" and "Hug me tight, hold me rude. I am here for you."
On March 8, she wrote: "Why I am made with rock heart? Why I am so cruel? Why I am so cunning? I — you make me do bad things. Why you made me bad."
