A woman who allegedly spiked the food and drinks of an Australian man with rat poison, leaving him in intensive care, has been charged with attempted murder, the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said yesterday.
The woman, identified by her surname Yang (楊), is accused of repeatedly poisoning Alex Shorey over the course of several months last year to prevent the Australian man from leaving Taiwan, prosecutors said in a statement.
Shorey was evacuated back to Australia on May 3 last year after being admitted to intensive care in Taiwan.
Photo: Taipei Times file photo
According to prosecutors, Yang put bromadiolone, a rodenticide that prevents blood from clotting, in a drink she gave to Shorey at her home on March 24 last year, after Shorey told Yang he planned to return to Australia in mid-April.
After ingesting the poison, Shorey was admitted to Taipei Medical University Hospital on March 25 with symptoms including stomachache, diarrhea, nosebleeds and blood in urine, prosecutors said.
Doctors at the hospital only determined that Shorey’s symptoms were caused by the toxin superwarfarin on April 10, they said.
Shorey’s father arrived in Taiwan on April 9 to look after his son and planned to take him back to Australia on April 16, prosecutors said.
Despite knowing that Shorey had not recovered from the bromadiolone poisoning, Yang continued to spike his food with bromadiolone as well as the blood pressure medication amlodipine, leading to Shorey being hospitalized again on April 17, they said, adding that Yang deceived Shorey’s father into signing a form denying permission to place Shorey in intensive care, against doctors’ advice.
While Shorey was hospitalized, Yang poisoned him on an unknown number of occasions between April 30 and May 2 after confronting him about a photograph of him, his employer — a woman who runs an online business providing English lessons — and his employer’s daughter on his phone, prosecutors said.
Shorey’s mother found an empty bottle of the rodenticide at Yang’s residence on May 1 when packing her son’s things, they added.
A search of Yang’s home on May 3 and 5 uncovered three mugs with traces of the rodenticide, prosecutors said.
Yang has been charged with attempted murder because she continued to poison Shorey despite knowing her actions could kill him, prosecutors added.
Meanwhile, Yang could face further charges related to the death in January last year of her British husband.
According to police, Yang’s husband showed symptoms similar to Shorey’s before his death, leading them to notify prosecutors.
The Taoyuan Flight Attendants’ Union yesterday vowed to protest at the EVA Air Marathon on Sunday next week should EVA Airway Corp’s management continue to ignore the union’s petition to change rules on employees’ leave of absence system, after a flight attendant reportedly died after working on a long-haul flight while ill. The case has generated public discussion over whether taking personal or sick leave should affect a worker’s performance review. Several union members yesterday protested at the Legislative Yuan, holding white flowers and placards, while shouting: “Life is priceless; requesting leave is not a crime.” “The union is scheduled to meet with
‘UNITED FRONT’ RHETORIC: China’s TAO also plans to hold weekly, instead of biweekly, news conferences because it wants to control the cross-strait discourse, an expert said China’s plan to expand its single-entry visa-on-arrival service to Taiwanese would be of limited interest to Taiwanese and is a feeble attempt by Chinese administrators to demonstrate that they are doing something, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) spokesman Chen Binhua (陳斌華) said the program aims to facilitate travel to China for Taiwanese compatriots, regardless of whether they are arriving via direct flights or are entering mainland China through Hong Kong, Macau or other countries, and they would be able to apply for a single-entry visa-on-arrival at all eligible entry points in China. The policy aims
Taipei, New Taipei City, Keelung and Taoyuan would issue a decision at 8pm on whether to cancel work and school tomorrow due to forecasted heavy rain, Keelung Mayor Hsieh Kuo-liang (謝國樑) said today. Hsieh told reporters that absent some pressing reason, the four northern cities would announce the decision jointly at 8pm. Keelung is expected to receive between 300mm and 490mm of rain in the period from 2pm today through 2pm tomorrow, Central Weather Administration data showed. Keelung City Government regulations stipulate that school and work can be canceled if rain totals in mountainous or low-elevation areas are forecast to exceed 350mm in
EVA Airways president Sun Chia-ming (孫嘉明) and other senior executives yesterday bowed in apology over the death of a flight attendant, saying the company has begun improving its health-reporting, review and work coordination mechanisms. “We promise to handle this matter with the utmost responsibility to ensure safer and healthier working conditions for all EVA Air employees,” Sun said. The flight attendant, a woman surnamed Sun (孫), died on Friday last week of undisclosed causes shortly after returning from a work assignment in Milan, Italy, the airline said. Chinese-language media reported that the woman fell ill working on a Taipei-to-Milan flight on Sept. 22
RSS