TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A woman faces eight years in prison for allegedly giving rat poison to an Australian student three times.
On Friday, Taiwan Taipei District Prosecutor's Office charged a woman surnamed Yang (楊) with attempted murder (殺人未遂罪) for repeatedly feeding rat poison to Alex Shorey, per CNA. Prosecutors have asked the court to hand Yang an eight-year prison sentence.
Yang, whose British husband died in January last year, began participating in social activities. On Jan. 17, she met a 23-year-old Australian student studying Chinese at a university in Taipei, through a Facebook language exchange group.
They met frequently, and Yang developed strong feelings for Shorey. In March, Shorey told Yang he would leave Taiwan earlier than planned, on April 16, due to stress from work at a cram school and lack of a stable income.
Although Yang did not voice any objections, she was displeased with Shorey’s sudden unilateral decision to end contact and return to Australia alone.
Investigators found that in an attempt to delay Shorey's return to Australia, Yang planned to mix liquid rat poison containing the superwarfarin toxin Bromadiolone into his diet. Taking advantage of Shorey’s frequent meals at her rental residence, she planned to poison him, forcing him to stay in Taiwan to receive her care.
On March 24, Yang mixed the rat poison into grape juice and got Shorey to drink it. After doing so, Shorey had diarrhea, abdominal pain, vomiting, persistent nosebleeds, blood in his urine, and blood spots on his skin and tongue.
Shorey sought medical treatment at the Taipei Medical University Hospital. On April 10, he was diagnosed at the hospital with superwarfarin poisoning and began receiving treatment.
After learning of his son's condition, Shorey's father traveled to Taiwan to care for him and stayed at Yang’s residence. He arranged for Shorey to return to Australia for treatment on April 16.
Unwilling to see her plan fail, prosecutors allege Yang escalated her crime to attempted murder with uncertain intent by continuing to poison him. His symptoms prompted his father to take him to the Taipei Medical University Hospital for treatment.
The Taipei District Prosecutors Office said the hospital had recommended Shorey be admitted to the intensive care unit. However, Yang told medical staff the family did not agree to ICU admission and even signed a form refusing ICU care.
After learning about the document Yang had signed, Shorey's father insisted that he be admitted to the ICU for treatment.
Shorey's condition was upgraded after treatment and he was transferred to a general ward on April 19, for continued care. Yang and Shorey’s father took turns caring for him, and the plan for Shorey to return to Australia for treatment was temporarily shelved.
Shorey’s mother also arrived in Taiwan on April 23, to care for her son. On April 26, Shorey’s father initiated a crowdfunding campaign to raise enough money for a medevac flight back to Australia that was slated for the morning of May 3.
Yang's plan once again failed, and after discovering a photo on Shorey’s phone of him in an intimate pose with the daughter of his female employer, she became jealous and resentful, said prosecutors. From April 30 to May 2, Yang once again poisoned his food, medication, or snacks, causing his condition to worsen.
The prosecution said that while Shorey's mother was packing her son's belongings at Yang's apartment, she discovered an empty bottle labeled "Taiwei Quick Kill Rat Liquid Bait," which listed Bromadiolone among the ingredients. Realizing it might be linked to Shorey's poisoning, she informed her husband, who then alerted doctors.
The substance was confirmed to be rat poison, and the mother forbade Yang from providing medication to her son. They then took a medical evacuation flight back to Australia for treatment.
Prosecutors alleged that although Yang and Shorey had known each other for only a few months and their relationship was short-lived, she, driven by “emotional disputes and poor emotional self-control,” attempted to poison Shorey in the hospital. They said this occurred while Shorey was accompanied by his parents as he received care and treatment.
Prosecutors said that after Yang's arrest, her statements about Shorey's poisoning were inconsistent, and she repeatedly evaded crucial questions.
During the investigation, she initially planned to claim mental disorder as a defense, asserting that she did not remember who Shorey was or what had happened. It was only after relevant evidence was uncovered that she changed her defense strategy.
Prosecutors said that although Shorey did not die, the pain he endured from his illness in Taiwan was severe, ranging from general discomfort and bleeding to developing dehydration shock, and respiratory failure.
Given the malicious harm, methods, and attitude displayed by Yang throughout this case, prosecutors requested that the court sentence her to a fixed-term prison sentence of more than eight years.
