Accused cyanide plot killers were followed by police for six months

DETAILS of a sophisticated surveillance operation have been revealed in court as the trial of two alleged lovers continues.

TWO alleged lovers accused of a cyanide poisoning murder plot were followed by police in a sophisticated covert operation for six months after the killing.

Surveillance operative police officers told the jury in the Victorian Supreme Court how they were tasked to monitor the movements of Sofia Sam and Arun Kamalasanan.

The pair, who met in college in India before reuniting in Melbourne, have both been charged with murdering Ms Sam’s husband Sam Abraham on October 14, 2015.

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Police initially believed his death was an accident, but now allege Mr Abraham, 33, was poisoned with cyanide as he slept beside his six-year-old son at their Epping home.

Sofia Sam is accused of murdering her husband, Sam Abraham. Picture: Jason Edwards

Arun Kamalasanan. Picture: David Caird

Photos were shown to the jury of Ms Sam, 33, and Mr Kamalasanan, 35, on a day out shopping; and meeting for lunch in the Galleria food hall in Melbourne city on numerous occasions after her husband’s death.

Surveillance logbooks from November 25, 2015, were read out in court and revealed the pair were spotted going to VicRoads in Bundoora together.

Officers later recorded observing them both shopping together in Aldi at an Epping shopping centre, before visiting a Chemist Warehouse.

The pair were followed until 2pm, when Ms Sam arrived to pick up her child from school, and Mr Kamalasanan left the car and walked to a nearby bus stop.

On November 29, police reported in surveillance logbooks how they sat off Mr Kamalasanan’s St Kilda West property where they saw him leave at 10.44am.

Murder victim Sam Abraham with his wife, accused killer Sofia Sam.

He was followed to Royal Park in Parkville, where after spending 45 minutes on his phone, he met Ms Sam, who pulled up in her car, the court heard.

She drove off at 1.53pm, and Mr Kamalasanan allegedly then used “multiple modes of public transport” to get to Epping, where Ms Sam picked him up at 4.11pm and took him back to her house.

The jury was told the alleged killers were observed having lunch at Galleria on December 5, 2015, and again on February 9 and March 16, 2016.

On May 16, 2016, police said they saw Ms Sam getting into the back passenger seat of a car, which Mr Kamalasanan was sitting in the driver’s seat in a carpark, where they stayed for some time before she left. He never exited the car.

Mr Kamalasanan’s barrister Patrick Tehan QC had earlier described the pair’s relationship as one of “mutual affection”. But he said that was no motive for murder.

Day four of the murder trial also heard evidence from senior forensic pathologist Michael Burke, and chief toxicologist Dimitri Gerostamoulos — both from the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine — who confirmed Mr Abraham’s cause of death was from cyanide poisoning.

Dr Burke said swallow reflexes meant it was “possible” for any liquid, including cyanide, to be administered through the mouth in small doses while someone was asleep.

Dr Gerostamoulos told the jury that traces of cyanide, arsenic, mercury, lead and prescription sedative Clonazepam were found in Mr Abraham’s system.

The trial, before Justice Paul Coghlan, continues.