Prosecutors yesterday filed attempted murder charges against a New Taipei City man accused of stabbing three nurses at the city’s Shuang Ho Hospital where he was quarantined for COVID-19.
The New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office in a news release cited the wounds the man surnamed Hung (洪) allegedly inflicted as evidence of his intent to kill and indifference to human life.
Prosecutors are also asking the court to indict the man on charges of assault, aggravated assault and obstructing the Medical Care Act (醫療法), the office said.
Hung was admitted to the hospital’s COVID-19 quarantine facility on May 25, three days after feeling weak and testing positive for the virus, it said.
On Monday morning last week, he left quarantine without authorization before being confronted by two nurses surnamed Tsai (蔡) and Chen (陳), who compelled him to return to the quarantine area, the office said.
Later, Hung hid a fruit knife behind his back and went to the hospital’s solarium, where he approached a nurse surnamed Shih (施) and asked her for directions to leave the facility, it said.
When Shih refused, Hung allegedly stabbed her in the chest and back until she retreated to a hospital corridor crying for help, the office said.
When Tsai and Chen came to investigate, Hung allegedly attacked them. Tsai dodged a thrust that glanced across her abdomen before helping Shih to escape, but Hung allegedly cornered Chen and repeatedly stabbed her in the chest and the groin, it said.
After the police subdued Hung, he spat at medical staff, the office added.
Shih’s life-threatening injuries included a collapsed left lung. The nerves and tendons in Chen’s right hand were severed while she was defending herself, and she had other non-life-threatening injuries.
The New Taipei City District Court has been asked to impose a heavy sentence due to the viciousness of the attack and the need to deter such actions during COVID-19, the office said.
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