An Australian court on Wednesday sentenced a woman and her lover, both from Kerala, to more than 20 years in jail for murdering her husband in 2015. Sofia Sam will serve a prison term of 22 years with a minimum of 18 years while Arun Kamalasanan has been jailed for 27 years with a minimum of 23, News.com reported.
Sam Abraham was found dead in his home in Epping in Melbourne on October 13, 2015. Initially it was thought that he died of a cardiac arrest. However, an autopsy report later revealed that Abraham had been poisoned with cyanide.
Kamalasanan had sedated the family, including Sofia Sam and her child who was six-years-old at the time, on the day of the murder. He then forced Abraham to drink an orange juice laced with cyanide.
Sofia Sam and Kamalasanan were arrested in 2016. The Victorian Supreme Court in February found them guilty of murdering Abraham.
Justice Coghlan said the murder was “premeditated” and “probably excruciating”. “This is a very serious example of the crime of murder,” said Coghlan, according to The Age. He, however, admitted that it was difficult to say conclusively what role Sofia Sam played in the murder. Both accused have not asked for pardon.
Kamalasanan will most likely be deported after the completion of his sentence while Sofia Sam’s immigration status will be decided later, reported The News Minute. She is an Australian citizen.
Abraham’s parents in Kollam welcomed the verdict. “We are really grateful to god that the guilty have been punished,” said his father Mathew Abraham, according to the Hindustan Times.
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