Police: Growing Suspicion That Coffee Victim’s Drink Was Spiked

The Jakarta Globe, 10 Jan 2016


Jakarta. A police investigation into the death of a woman who died after drinking coffee at a Jakarta mall is now focusing on the possibility that she was poisoned, after traces of cyanide were found in her stomach and in the drink.

Sr. Comr. Krishna Murti, the Jakarta Police’s director of general crimes, said on Sunday that laboratory tests on a sample of the coffee consumed on Wednesday by Wayan Mirna Salihin, 27, found traces of the highly toxic compound cyanide. An autopsy also revealed indications of cyanide in the victim’s stomach.

Mirna suffered convulsions shortly after drinking a coffee during a meeting with two friends, identified only as Siska and Hani, at the Olivier café at the Grand Indonesia shopping mall in Central Jakarta on Wednesday afternoon. She was initially taken to the mall management’s clinic and later to the Abdi Waluyo hospital in Menteng, Central Jakarta, where she was later pronounced dead.

Krishna said one of the waiters at the café had provided a “significant” statement about having tasted a drop of the coffee after Mirna was taken away.

“The witness said they felt numb for about half an hour, then experienced vomiting and nausea. And that was from tasting just one drop. So we suspect there was something [toxic] in that coffee,” he said.

Krishna noted that Siska had ordered the drink for Mirna, having arrived at the café nearly an hour before Mirna and Hani. He also said that while Hani, for whom Siska ordered a cocktail, had cooperated with the ongoing police investigation, Siska had refused to come in for questioning.

He emphasized, however, that both women were still being treated as witnesses, and that police had not yet conclusively determined that Mirna was poisoned.

“It’s possible that the coffee was poisoned. But it’s also possible that the deceased was allergic to coffee. Perhaps she drank something else before the coffee [that caused an adverse reaction], or perhaps someone spiked her drink. These are all possibilities,” Krishna said.

Neither woman could be reached for comment.

Mirna’s family buried her on Sunday in the family cemetery in Bogor, south of Jakarta.



*