The Supreme Court has upheld a nine-month prison sentence for a New Taipei City man convicted of releasing chlorine gas into his neighbor’s apartment.
According to a court notice on the ruling, 52-year-old Tseng Yu-shu (曾玉書), who lives on the 12th floor of a residential high-rise building in Linkou District (林口), regularly complained that his upstairs neighbor, surnamed Huang (黃), was intentionally causing a racket, which was interfering with Tseng’s sleep, who worked graveyard shifts.
Tseng had previously been taken to court for threatening Huang, and was ordered to pay a NT$200,000 fine and serve 120 days in jail, the ruling said.
Huang reported a constant and often heavy smell of chlorine in his apartment that started in July 2014, which resulted in his family — Huang, his wife and two children, aged 11 and 12 — exhibiting symptoms of chlorine poisoning, the ruling said.
According to the ruling, on a visit to the building’s rooftop, Huang discovered that only the vent leading to his apartment was rusted, while vents to other units were intact, and hypothesized that Tseng was behind the smell of chlorine.
In January last year, police searched Tseng’s apartment and found evidence that he had been depositing homemade chlorine dispensers into the vent of the Huang residence since July 2014, the ruling said.
Tseng confessed to the crime, saying his actions were caused by him losing his temper.
The New Taipei City District Court sentenced Tseng to six months in prison, which could be commuted to a fine.
An appeal by Tseng resulted in the High Court upholding the initial ruling and increasing the prison sentence to nine months, which could not be commuted to a fine.
Tseng appealed again, resulting in the Supreme Court this month upholding the High Court’s ruling.
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