Taipei police yesterday said they are examining new information about the death of a British national whose Taiwanese widow is under investigation for the suspected poisoning of an Australian student in Taiwan last year.
The case relates to an incident in April last year, in which Alex Shorey, a 24-year-old Australian exchange student, was hospitalized in Taipei for what was later determined to be poisoning by the rodenticide superwarfarin.
During questioning, Shorey’s Taiwanese girlfriend, surnamed Yang (楊), admitted mixing rat poison into a glass of juice, but denied that she had intentionally poisoned him, saying that she had intended to drink it herself.
Photo: Taipei Times
Shorey moved back to Australia on May 3 last year, while Yang was referred to the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office earlier this year to be investigated on suspicion of aggravated assault.
However, a new lead in the case came to light in January, when a British national came to Taiwan looking for information about his older brother, who had moved to Taiwan with his wife several years earlier and subsequently lost contact with his family.
Using the information provided by the man, police discovered that his brother had been married to Yang, but had died in January last year, just months before Shorey was poisoned, police said.
Yang’s husband died with symptoms of poisoning similar to those experienced by Shorey, police said, leading them to notify prosecutors that the cases were possibly connected.
Local news reports said that doctors who treated the British man suspected that he might have ingested rat poison, but released his body to Yang without ordering a forensic autopsy.
Yang had the body cremated.
Following the revelations, prosecutors asked the Taipei Police Department’s Zhongshan Precinct to open an investigation into the man’s death.
The precinct yesterday said it had conducted searches in connection with the case earlier this month.
Yang has not yet been charged in either case.
The first two F-16V Bock 70 jets purchased from the US are expected to arrive in Taiwan around Double Ten National Day, which is on Oct. 10, a military source said yesterday. Of the 66 F-16V Block 70 jets purchased from the US, the first completed production in March, the source said, adding that since then three jets have been produced per month. Although there were reports of engine defects, the issue has been resolved, they said. After the jets arrive in Taiwan, they must first pass testing by the air force before they would officially become Taiwan’s property, they said. The air force
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, would pose a steep challenge to Taiwan’s ability to defend itself against a full-scale invasion, a defense expert said yesterday. Institute of National Defense and Security Research analyst Chieh Chung (揭仲) made the comment hours after the PLAN confirmed the carrier recently passed through the Taiwan Strait to conduct “scientific research tests and training missions” in the South China Sea. China has two carriers in operation — the Liaoning and the Shandong — with the Fujian undergoing sea trials. Although the PLAN needs time to train the Fujian’s air wing and
STRIKE: Some travel agencies in Taiwan said that they were aware of the situation in South Korea, and that group tours to the country were proceeding as planned A planned strike by airport personnel in South Korea has not affected group tours to the country from Taiwan, travel agencies said yesterday. They added that they were closely monitoring the situation. Personnel at 15 airports, including Seoul’s Incheon and Gimpo airports, are to go on strike. They announced at a news conference on Tuesday that the strike would begin on Friday next week and continue until the Mid-Autumn Festival next month. Some travel agencies in Taiwan, including Cola Tour, Lion Travel, SET Tour and ezTravel, said that they were aware of the situation in South Korea, and that group
Taiwanese celebrities Hank Chen (陳漢典) and Lulu Huang (黃路梓茵) announced yesterday that they are planning to marry. Huang announced and posted photos of their engagement to her social media pages yesterday morning, joking that the pair were not just doing marketing for a new show, but “really getting married.” “We’ve decided to spend all of our future happy and hilarious moments together,” she wrote. The announcement, which was later confirmed by the talent agency they share, appeared to come as a surprise even to those around them, with veteran TV host Jacky Wu (吳宗憲) saying he was “totally taken aback” by the news. Huang,
RSS