Egyptian engineer sentenced to death for slow coffee-poisoning murder of wife

In a dramatic conclusion to a five-hour trial, the Minya Criminal Court sentenced Mina G. B., a local engineer, to life imprisonment (25 years) for the cold-blooded, premeditated murder of his wife through slowly poisoning her coffee.

Presided over by Counselor Wael Shaaban, head of the court’s Fifth Circuit, the trial revealed a harrowing account of marital betrayal, technical forensic evidence, and a victim’s chilling final message to her family.

Slow poison served in coffee

According to the prosecution, the couple’s marriage, which began in 2010, deteriorated as the defendant sought to pursue another relationship.

Rather than seeking a separation, the prosecution alleged that the engineer devised a covert scheme to eliminate his wife by surreptitiously lacing her daily cup of coffee with high-dose prescription pharmaceuticals over an extended period.

The victim’s father initially raised alarms when he filed an official complaint expressing deep suspicions regarding the sudden circumstances of his daughter’s death.

Following his report, public prosecutors ordered the exhumation of her body more than two months after her burial.

Subsequent forensic pathology reports revealed toxic concentrations of Concor V (a beta-blocker) and Effexor (an antidepressant) within her vital organs.

Expert testimony from the Head of Toxicology at Minya University’s Faculty of Pharmacy confirmed that mixing these active ingredients creates severe cardiac strain and toxicity, ultimately leading to acute heart failure.

Desperate final warning

Central to the prosecution’s case was testimony from a close friend of the victim, who recalled a desperate message the wife delivered shortly before her death: “If I die, go to my mother and father and tell them that Mina did this to me. Everything he serves me tastes like years of bitterness.”

Investigators further established a digital and financial paper trail, retrieving pharmacy purchase logs tied to the defendant’s registered phone number that showed cash payments for Concor V.

Prosecutors also presented a LE360,000 life insurance policy held by the husband as potential financial leverage.

Defense challenges and final ruling

Defense counsel fought the charges vigorously during three hours of oral arguments, asserting that the case lacked direct eye-witness evidence of the poisoning.

The defense argued that the victim had undergone an electrocardiogram three days before her death that showed no clear heart defects, suggesting the death could have stemmed from an undiagnosed underlying health condition.

Furthermore, the defense pointed to the defendant’s prosperous financial standing—noting he had previously lent millions of pounds to relatives—to dispute the life insurance policy as a credible motive.

However, the panel of judges ultimately upheld the prosecution’s argument that the combined forensic results, digital sales records, witness accounts, and forensic findings formed an unbroken chain of guilt.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

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