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Toxicologist challenges prosecutors to make cyanide-laced coffee in court
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Murder defendant Jessica Kumala Wongso attends a hearing in the Central Jakarta District Court on Sept. 1 of her trial for the murder of Wayan Mirna Salihin. (Antara/Widodo S. Jusuf)
A
chemical toxicologist from the University of Indonesia's School of Mathematics and Science who appeared as an expert witness for murder defendant Jessica Kumala Wongso challenged prosecutors to make cyanide-laced Vietnamese coffee in court to prove the validity of the testimony of the National Police toxicologist who claimed Wayan Mirna Salihin died from cyanide poisoning.
“If prosecutors want to make the cyanide-tainted coffee, we can make it in court. In a laboratory, the maximum cyanide limit that can be used is 10 milligrams per liter, where some people have suffered from dizziness only by its smell,” toxicologist Budiawan told judges at the Central Jakarta District Court on Wednesday.
He rebutted the testimony of police toxicologist Nursamran Subandi who served as a witness for the prosecution and said in a previous hearing that there could have been from 7,400 to 7,900 milligrams per liter of cyanide in Mirna's coffee, meaning Mirna would have consumed about 298 milligrams of cyanide with one sip of the coffee.
Budiawan said that amount of cyanide would have had a distinct smell that would filled the entire Olivier restaurant.
"The people there should have been disturbed by the smell. The people who were close to the cyanide could even have fainted because of the smell," he said.
However, prosecutor Wahyu Oktaviandi brushed off Budiawan's statement by saying that forensic toxicologist I Made Agus Gelgel Wirasuta, who had been presented as an expert witness by the prosecution, had devised and conducted six scenarios for coffee making using cyanide. He said Gelgel was fine afterwards and simulation produced reactions different from what Budiawan said they would. (rin)
Editorial note: Paragraph one of this article has been corrected.
