Yang Jinping, a 50-year-old Taiwanese woman, was suspected of mixing rat poison into Alex Shorey's food three times to retain Alex Shorey, an Australian male college student who came to Taiwan as an exchange student. Shorey was poisoned and nearly died. The Taipei District Court of first instance sentenced Yang to 11 years and two months in prison for attempted murder. After the case was appealed, the High Court held its first hearing today (11th). Yang still denied committing any crime and criticized the prosecutor's appeal in court as "unreasonable". She stressed that she had been wronged and hoped that the judge would investigate and clear her name.
Yang Jinping holds a master's degree in business from the United Kingdom. She was married to her British husband David. After her husband passed away, she returned to Taiwan to live. In January 2023, she met Xiao Lei, who was 23 years old at the time and came to Taiwan as an exchange student. Although the two did not have a formal relationship, they developed an open and intimate relationship and lived together.
Later, Xiao Lei was unable to adapt to life in Taiwan and planned to return to Australia. Yang's daughter was suspected of being unable to accept that the relationship between the two was about to end. She was suspected of mixing rat poison into Xiao Lei's diet and even poisoning him again while he was hospitalized.
The first instance found that Yang mixed rat poison into juice for Xiao Lei to drink on March 24, 2023, which caused Xiao Lei's coagulation function to be abnormal, and was diagnosed as "super warfarin" poisoning.
Knowing that Xiao Lei had suffered from multiple bleeding, abdominal pain, vomiting and other symptoms, and that if he ingested the poison again, it would be life-threatening, Yang still took the opportunity to take care of him and poisoned him again on April 17 of the same year, causing Xiao Lei to suffer from hypovolemic shock, and the hospital once issued a critical illness notice.
Unexpectedly, Ms. Yang did not give up. She once again mixed rat poison into tea soup, drinks or snacks before April 30 of the same year, causing Xiao Lei's condition to worsen. Even after receiving vitamin K1 treatment, his coagulation function continued to be out of control. It wasn't until Xiao Lei's mother came from Australia to visit and found an empty can of rat poison in Yang's residence. She noticed something was wrong and stopped Yang from approaching her son, and Xiao Lei gradually escaped from danger.
Ms. Yang always denied poisoning during the first trial, and claimed that she prepared the rat poison in her home because she missed her late husband and had thoughts of committing suicide. The North Hospital reviewed the medical records, witnesses and poison identification results and determined that Yang’s murder was not intentional, that the crime was planned and the means were bad, and that she showed no regret after committing the crime. She was sentenced to 11 years in February.
The case was appealed, and the High Court held a hearing today. The prosecutor argued that the first trial did not find Yang's attempted murder for allegedly adulterating the blood pressure drug "Maiyou" and the sentence was too light, so the appeal was filed.
Ms. Yang refuted the prosecutor's appeal in court as "unreasonable" and stressed that "I didn't do anything. I feel aggrieved to be wrongly accused." She asked the judge to conduct a detailed investigation to clarify the facts of the case.
The defense lawyer argued that although the evidence presented by the prosecution had probative capacity, it lacked probative force.
The judge finally asked Ms. Yang about her family situation. She said that she was currently married, living with her family, and had to support her father. The whole case was scheduled to be heard again.
