Sam Abraham was found cold, stiff and foaming at the mouth in his pyjamas after he was allegedly fatally poisoned with cyanide by his wife and her lover, court heard on Wednesday.
33-year-old Sofia Sam and her lover, 35-year-old Arun Kamalasanan are on trial in the Supreme Court for murdering Sofia’s husband, Sam Abraham at the family home in Epping, Melbourne in October 2015.
reports on the morning of the death, Sofia telephoned her sister Sonia who, along with a friend, rushed to the Epping home.
An emergency call was made after the pair arrived, and the trial jury was played the raw and emotional audio recording in court on Wednesday.
Several people can be heard speaking to the operator, while a woman, believed to be Sam, can be heard wailing in the background.
"Just make sure you keep on going with the compressions," the female operator says, calmly but firmly guiding them through CPR.
But the CPR was difficult to administer because Mr Abraham's mouth was foaming and locked shut.
"We can't do the breaths now," a voice says.
"There is a lot of foam and blood coming out of his mouth. And he's biting his tongue."
Paramedic Steve Hoe arrived on the scene with a colleague to take over CRP.
They stripped back the victim's pyjama top, felt for a heart rhythm and took his temperature.
It was 27.7C, nearly 10C lower than the normal body temperature.
Mr Abraham was dead, and police were called.
It was initially thought he died from a heart attack but an autopsy revealed he was poisoned with cyanide and had a sedative in his system.
Sofia Sam (left) and Arun Kamalasanan (right) Source: Facebook
Prosecutors say Kamalasanan, working with Sam, poisoned Mr Abraham in his sleep.
"By sneaking into the house and pouring orange juice with cyanide in it into the mouth of the deceased," prosecutor Kerri Judd QC said in her opening.
A doctor working on the case said people swallow saliva involuntarily as they sleep and it was possible to slowly feed someone liquid while they were sedated.
Dr Michael Burke, of the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine, who conducted the autopsy and informed the prosecution case about his report is set to give evidence about cyanide poisoning in the trial.
An alternative prosecution case is that Sam put the sleeping pills and cyanide in drinks she prepared for him before bed.
Sam and Kamalasanan knew each other from college in India and they reconnected when they both moved to Melbourne.
It's alleged they were having a secret affair and expressed their affection through passionate diary entries.
They have pleaded not guilty and the trial continues.
