Prosecutors have indicted five people over the alcohol-related death of a 22-year-old female student two years ago at a central Taiwan university.
Lai Hsuan-yu (賴宣諭), who was a third-year student at Tunghai University in Taichung at the time of the incident, died from choking and alcohol poisoning on campus in November 2008 after drinking two-thirds of a bottle of liquor.
According to indictments brought by the Taichung District Prosecutors Office on Thursday, Lai drank the alcohol as part of a NT$600 bet after meeting a student she knew surnamed Chen (陳) outside her dormitory along with four other male students.
Central to the prosecution’s case is that the men come from Taiwan’s outlying island of Kinmen and gave Lai Kaoliang liquor (高梁酒) — 58 percent alcohol — a spirit local to Kinmen that they knew to have a high alcohol content.
The charges state that despite showing regret, they are responsible for negligence resulting in death because they gave Lai the alcohol and then let her return to her dormitory, failing to check on her or calling for medical help, despite seeing her in a drunken state.
According to the prosecutors, the men should have been aware of the dangers of giving the alcohol to Lai, who had not drunk the spirit before, as they all knew the strength of the drink they were giving her.
According to the indictment, immediately after drinking the spirit, Lai turned pale, was dizzy and could not stand properly. The men reportedly told her to stop drinking, but then gave her the NT$600 and let her leave alone.
In their defense, the men pointed out that they were unable to enter the female-only dormitory to check on Lai.
Prosecutors say she returned to her dormitory and fell asleep on a desk. She was found dead by her roommates the following morning.
An autopsy showed that she died of a combination of alcohol poisoning and choking on her own vomit.
The charges were lodged following an investigation lasting more than a year by the Taichung authorities after the relatives of Lai and the men failed to reach an out-of-court settlement.
The public relations office of Tunghai University also stated that Chen was the only one enrolled at the school and that the other students were visiting from other universities.
Negligence resulting in death is punishable by a maximum of two years in prison according to the law.
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