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Testimonies put Jessica in tight corner during Wednesday’s hearing

Testimony from employees of the Olivier restaurant, where the alleged murder of Wayan Mirna Salihin took place, seemingly backed defendant Jessica Kumala Wongso into a corner during Wednesday’s hearing of the high-profile case

Safrin La Batu (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Thu, July 28, 2016

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Testimonies put Jessica in tight corner during Wednesday’s hearing

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estimony from employees of the Olivier restaurant, where the alleged murder of Wayan Mirna Salihin took place, seemingly backed defendant Jessica Kumala Wongso into a corner during Wednesday’s hearing of the high-profile case.

The employees testified that the Vietnamese iced coffee that a waiter served the table No. 54, where Jessica was sitting, had moved from its initial position and a straw had been put inside the glass of the coffee.

According to previous statements from the police, the suspect, who came to the café earlier than the victim and another friend named Boon “Hani” Juwita, ordered the coffee for Mirna and two cocktails for her and Hani.

Agus Triono, a waiter who served the coffee, told the panel of judges that he saw Jessica sitting a little bit to the left from the center of a sofa at the table. He then put the coffee in front of her and then went back to working.

“I put the coffee in front of her and a straw near it,” he said, while reenacting the scene in front of the judges along with related witnesses.

He added that he also saw two paper bags belonging to the suspect on the middle of the table.

A few minutes later, another waiter named Marlon Napitupulu came to serve two cocktails. He said by this time he saw the coffee positioned on the right side of the table.

Marlon’s testimony was in line with the testimony of a waitress named Ahmar who came to Jessica’s table a few minutes after Marlon to pick up the empty cocktail glass that Jessica had finished. When picking up the empty glass, Ahmar also saw that the coffee was on the right side of the table and the straw that Agus said he put near the glass was already inside the glass.

“I asked her [Jessica] how the cocktail tasted. She replied ‘delicious, no problem’. I then picked up one glass because I saw that the content was already empty,” she explained.

The next scene at the table was when Mirna and Hani arrived, and the former took a seat in the middle of the sofa near Jessica, while Hani was on the right side.

Hani, who was also present at Wednesday’s trial, said Mirna was happy to see the coffee and asked, “Whose coffee is this?” to which Jessica responded that the coffee was for Mirna.

“Mirna had difficulties breathing after sipping the coffee,” Hani said.

The victim was then brought to a nearby hospital where she passed away shortly after arriving.

Meanwhile, witness Devi, who works as a director at Olivier, testified that Jessica’s expression after Mirna collapsed was suspicious. She said the suspect stood by idly while Hani and other employees panicked and tried to help the victim.

“I was confused by her. The victim was her friend, but it was we who were panicking while she was just standing there,” she said.

She also testified that when the victim collapsed, Jessica immediately accused the cafe’s employees of putting something into the coffee. “What did you put into the coffee?” Devi said, imitating Jessica’s question. “She [Jessica] focused on our employees rather than [helping] the victim,” she added.

Although the testimonies seemed to undermine Jessica’s defense, none of the witnesses testified that they saw Jessica put something into the coffee. None of the CCTV footage played during the trial showed Jessica putting something into the coffee.

The case, which erupted on Jan. 6, has attracted public attention not only because the incident occurred at an upscale café, but also because the suspect was a friend of the victim.

In their indictment in a previous trial, prosecutors said Jessica had murdered Mirna, who was her friend while studying at a university in Australia, because the former was offended by the latter’s advice that Jessica end her relationship with her then boyfriend, an Australian national, because he was a drug user.

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