The Taipei District Court yesterday reached guilty verdicts for the defendants in the case of the death of a 21-year-old model surnamed Kuo (郭) at a party at the W Hotel in Taipei in December last year.
The court sentenced Chu Chia-lung (朱家龍) to 10 years in prison, while sentencing Hung Sheng-yan (洪聖晏) to 10 years and six months, and Tsai Yi-hsueh (蔡逸學) to 10 years.
Chiang Che-wei (江哲瑋), who supplied drugs, was sentenced to nine years in prison and Chang Tzu-yi (張子奕) was sentenced to four years and two months.
The ruling can be appealed.
On Dec. 2 last year, Chu, Hung and Tsai hosted a five-day party at the W Hotel.
Kuo arrived at the party on Dec. 3 and stayed until Dec. 7, when she was seen being helped into a taxi by Hung and Chiang, the court said.
Tsai called in an unlicensed doctor to give Kuo a shot to help metabolize the drugs, it said.
Kuo was first treated at Cathay General Hospital before being transferred to the Taipei Veteran’s General Hospital, where she was proclaimed beyond medical aid, it added.
According to an autopsy report, there were residual traces of 11 to 15 types of drugs of lethal dosage in Kuo’s system, the court said.
The cause of death was recorded as acute poisoning and shock due to rhabdomyolysis.
The defendants were indicted on charges of violating the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例) and the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act (藥事法).
Chu pleaded not guilty and said that of the three days and five hours when Kuo was at the hotel, he had only been present for 19 hours, adding that he had left 27 hours prior to Kuo’s poisoning, the court said.
Hung also pleaded not guilty, saying Kuo knew she was coming to a drug party and should have understood the risks, the court said.
Tsai admitted to being an accomplice to the handover of illegal drugs, adding that he had called for a doctor and had not sought to delay Kuo’s hospitalization, as prosecutors claimed.
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