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Police to allege Melbourne husband poisoned by wife

A WOMAN has been charged with killing her husband after homicide detectives unravelled an alleged poison plot in suburban Melbourne.

Police will allege Mr Abraham was killed in a bizarre cyanide poison plot. Picture: Stock image
Police will allege Mr Abraham was killed in a bizarre cyanide poison plot. Picture: Stock image

A WOMAN has been charged with killing her husband after homicide detectives unravelled an alleged poison plot in suburban Melbourne.

The Herald Sun can reveal Sam Abraham, 33, is believed to have died of cyanide poisoning at his Epping home. His death came just three months after he was attacked in what police allege was an attempted murder.

When his body was discovered at the Kirkland Ct property last October police and Mr Abraham’s relatives believed he had died from natural causes.

But after months of sophisticated covert investigations, detectives this week swooped in to arrest Mr Abraham’s wife, Sofia Sam, and her male friend, alleging a bizarre cyanide poison plot.

Police have charged Arun Kamalasanan, 34, of Port Melbourne, with attempted murder and a separate charge of murder.

Mrs Sam, 32, has been charged with murder.

The Herald Sun understands there were no signs of suspicious circumstances when Mr Abraham died but it was later discovered that he had been poisoned with cyanide.

Police will allege he died somewhere between October 13 and 14 last year at the Epping house he shared with Mrs Sam.

CCTV footage and DNA will form part of the brief of evidence.

The Melbourne Magistrates’ Court heard police had intercepted phone calls throughout their covert investigation.

Police have about three months of telephone recordings to transcribe and some of the conversations would need to be translated into English, the court was told.

Three months before his death, in July last year, Mr Abraham was attacked and stabbed by a balaclava-clad man who had been hiding in the foot-well of his car at Lalor train station.

Cable ties, material scraps and handcuffs were found in the car following what police at the time described as a “horror movie” scenario.

Mr Abraham, a store worker, received injuries to the neck, temple and cheek.

He told reporters last year that he was able to pull the balaclava from the man’s face but he did not recognise his attacker.

“He tried to stop my screaming, but I scream and continuously I yell,” Mr Abraham said at a press conference.

“I was really scared, I couldn’t get anything in my mind.”

Police allege Mr Kamalasanan was the man in the balaclava.

Mrs Sam and her husband had lived together at the Epping home where Mr Abraham died but she had recently moved to another house in the same suburb.

Dressed neatly in a white tank top, a large necklace, and with her shoulder-length dark hair out, Mrs Sam was motionless during a short court appearance.

At one time she put her face in her hands.

Her family was in court and visibly distressed.

The court was told Mrs Sam was “small in stature” and could therefore be vulnerable in custody.

A neatly-groomed and bespectacled Mr Kamalasanan was dressed in a yellow shirt and jeans.

Both accused were silent during their separate appearances and the court was told neither had been in custody before.

The magistrate granted investigators extra time to transcribe phone conversations and prepare evidence.

The pair were remanded to reappear for a committal mention on February 13 next year.

andrea.hamblin@news.com.au

@AndieHamblin

Original URL: https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/law-order/police-to-allege-melbourne-husband-poisoned-by-wife/news-story/c046329782f6bc798a873e82eafc2c43