THREE TIMES POIS0.NED WITH RAT P0.ISON TO KEEP HER LOVER: Is an 11-year prison sentence really enough to pay for such a cold-bl00ded crime?

A Taiwanese woman was sentenced to 11 years and two months in prison today for the attempted murder of Australian exchange student Alex Shorey, who was hospitalized after ingesting a rodenticide in 2023.

The verdict may be appealed.

The Taipei District Court convicted Yang Chin-ping (楊錦屏), in her late 40s, for poisoning Shorey when he was a 24-year-old Chinese-language student at a school in northern Taiwan.

Australian Alex Shorey appears at the Taipei District Court on March 11.

Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times

Shorey was admitted to intensive care and eventually medically evacuated out of Taiwan.

Shorey planned to return to Australia and cut off contact with Yang, with whom he was in an open relationship, leading her to poison him three times to stop him from leaving the country, prosecutors said.

The first incident occurred on March 24, 2023, when she put poison into his grape juice, leaving him hospitalized with nosebleeds and a stomachache, they said.

On April 10, he was diagnosed with poisoning by the rodenticide superwarfarin.

When Shorey’s father arrived in Taiwan to arrange his return to Australia for treatment on April 16, Yang poisoned him again and tricked his father into signing a form refusing admission to the intensive care unit, prosecutors said.

His father insisted he be treated regardless, and once he recovered enough to return to Australia in May, Yang poisoned him again by mixing rat poison with blood pressure medication, putting Shorey in critical condition, they said.

Shorey’s mother discovered an empty bottle of rat poison in his rental accommodation, they said.

Shorey also testified that while he was receiving treatment, Yang insisted that doctors communicate in Chinese rather than English and translated for him herself.

The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office indicted Yang in December 2024 for attempted murder.

At the trial in May, Yang denied the charges, saying she had no intent to harm Shorey.

She claimed the rat poison had been intended for herself, as she struggled with the death of her late husband, and accused prosecutors of taking her statements out of context.

Prosecutors maintained that she showed no remorse and recommended a minimum sentence of 12 years.

The court said Yang’s motive was her dissatisfaction with Shorey’s decision to leave Taiwan, and that she continued poisoning him despite witnessing his suffering.

It said the crime was carefully planned and carried out through cruel means, adding that Yang denied the charges, showed no remorse, and made no effort to apologize or compensate the victim.

Shorey’s parents returned to Taiwan to testify in court in March.

SOURCE: TAIPEI TIMES

https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2026/07/22/2003861192