HIGHLIGHTS

• Sam Abraham was murdered in October 2015.
• Wife Sofia's lover Arun poisoned him with cyanide.
• Sofia and Arun were convicted in February 2018.

Nearly three years after the murder of Keralite Sam Abraham in Melbourne, an Australian court has sentenced his widow and her lover to over 20 years in jail.

After being arrested in 2016, 33-year-old Sofia and boyfriend Arun Kamalasanan, 35, were convicted in February this year. On Wednesday, Sofia was awarded a jail term of 22 years (with a minimum of 18 years) and Arun a term of 27 years (with a minimum of 23).

A report on News.com quoted Justice Coghlan, who pronounced the verdict, describing Sam's murder as "premeditated" and "probably excruciating".

SAM'S MURDER AND PREMONITION OF DEATH

On October 13, 2015, Sam was found dead in his Melbourne residence. Initially, it was believed that he had died of a cardiac arrest. But soon, autopsy revealed that Sam had been poisoned with cyanide.

As the case unravelled, Sofia's affair with Arun came out in the open, with confessions in her personal diary to back it up. The motive of the murder then became clearer.

Police discovered that Arun had drugged Sam's family, including Sofia and their 6-year-old child, on the day of the murder. Once they were out, Arun force-fed Sam a drink of orange juice laced with cyanide.

In court, Justice Coghlan concluded that though it is not clear how, but Arun would not have been able to pull off Sam's cold-blooded murder without Sofia's knowledge.

Multiple reports said that when Sam last visited his relatives in Kerala, he had told them that the next time he returns, he will come in a coffin. He had also requested them to make sure he is buried near his grandfather's grave.

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