(Image source from: GG2)

Nearly three years after the murder of Keralite Sam Abraham, his wife, and her ex-beau, both hailing from Kerala have been imprisoned in Melbourne for more than 20 years by an Australian court for malignantly poisoning her husband with cyanide-laced orange juice.

Sofia Sam, 34, and her ex-lover Arun Kamalasanan, 36, were found guilty in February for putting Sofia's spouse Sam Abraham to death at his residence in Melbourne in October 2015, According to Australian news agency.

On Thursday, Australian Supreme Court imprisoned Arun Kamalasanan, who hold the "architect" of the poison plot, for 27 years and Sofia Sam for 22 years.

Sam Abraham, 33, was found dead in his trousers and foaming at the mouth, initially is thought to have suffered a heart failure. But a post-mortem report subsequently disclosed he died of cyanide poisoning. After a drawn-out police operation, Arun and Sam were charged, proved and found guilty.

"This is a very serious example of the crime of murder. Sam Abraham was a young man asleep in bed at home with his family when he was killed by the use of poison. I am satisfied that the poison was chosen as your murder weapon in an attempt to avoid detection," said Justice Paul Coghlan while announcing the sentence.

A long lens was used by detectives to spy on Sofia and Kamalasanan for months after the death, watching them meet for lunch and run errands, the report said.

A secret diary was also unveiled by detectives in which Sofia shared with Arun, illustrating their "deep" feelings for each other.

"It was a major part of the prosecution case that both of you had been in a long-term relationship, notwithstanding you both being married," Justice Coghlan said.

Sam and Arun, both hailing from Kerala met during their course at Mahatma Gandhi University. Arun had left his married woman and kid back in India and moved to Melbourne in the middle of 2013.

According to trial, Sam moved with her six-year-old son to Australia from India in 2012.

"Both Sofia and Arun had a motive to kill Sam. They both wanted to be together," Prosecutor Kerri Judd had told the trial.

The court set a non-parole period to Arun for 23 years and 18 years for Sofia.

By Sowmya Sangam