I

t was 6 p.m. on Jan. 6 when Boon “Hani” Juwita, Arief Soemarko and Jessica Kumala Wongso admitted Arief’s wife Wayan Mirna Salihin to Abdi Waluyo Hospital in Menteng, Central Jakarta, after the latter fell unconscious after sipping coffee at a restaurant an hour earlier.

Prima Yudho, the doctor on duty at the hospital’s emergency unit on the night of the incident, left his patient at the time to attend to Mirna as he heard a nurse scream for help, as it was believed that Mirna was in critical condition.

“Unfortunately, I could not do anything as her breathing and heartbeat had already stopped at that time,” Prima told a panel of judges as he sat on the witness stand on Monday. “I believe that by the time she had arrived she was already dead”.

In accordance with emergency standard procedures, the doctor and his medical team at the hospital performed CPR on her. However, it was a foregone conclusion. Mirna’s pupils showed no response to light and her hands and skin were pale.

After carrying out other necessary medical checks, Prima then declared that Mirna had passed away at 18:30 to the nurses and other doctors. He believed that Mirna had died on the way from the Grand Indonesia shopping mall or less than an hour after she drank the cyanide-laced Vietnamese iced coffee at 5:20 p.m.

A gathering of friends for former fellow students of the Billy Blue College of Design in Sydney, Australia, at an upscale cafe turned into a tragedy as Mirna fell to the floor, convulsing and foaming at the mouth after drinking the coffee that was ordered by Jessica, who then was named as a murder suspect of her friend.

On the night of the incident, Hani also tried a sip of the coffee, before the group then rushed to the Abdi Waluyo Hospital, the nearest hospital from the would-be crime scene.

Another doctor of the hospital, Ardianto, said during Monday’s hearing that he had examined Hani as she was scared the hazardous substance in the coffee could kill her as well. The doctor, however, said after checking her physical condition and blood pressure, the doctor could conclude that Hani had not been poisoned.

In the ongoing murder trial that has so far lasted two months, prosecutors have repeatedly grilled Jessica as they have claimed that every single piece of evidence had pointed to nowhere else but the 27-year-old girl, despite no eyewitness having saw who poured the cyanide into Mirna’s coffee.

On Monday prosecutors said more witnesses, including the defendant’s domestic worker would be presented to the court in the next hearing.

“We will present another 10 witnesses and five experts to the court in order to support our case,” Prosecutor Ardito told reporters after the hearing. The judges are scheduled to give a verdict before Oct. 21.