Just In: Taiwanese Woman Jailed for More Than 11 Years After Verdict in High-Profile Poisoning Case Involving Australian Student
A Taiwanese woman has learnt her fate after deliberately poisoning her Australian boyfriend to stop him from leaving her.
Yang Chin-ping, a widow in her late 40s, was sentenced to 11 years and two months in prison on Wednesday for the attempted murder of Alex Shorey, a then 23-year-old exchange student from Queensland’s Toowoomba.
The court heard Yang laced Shorey’s food and drinks with superwarfarin, a rat poison, on at least three occasions in 2023.
Shorey had travelled to Taiwan to study a one-year Chinese language program when he met Yang in January 2023.
The pair soon began an open relationship and moved in together.
But when Shorey told Yang in March he planned to return to Australia the following month, she allegedly could not accept the relationship ending and began poisoning him, according to local media.
“Her intent was to mix the poison into Alex’s meals or beverages, which he frequently consumed at his rented residence in Taipei, causing him to become ill and forcing him to remain in Taiwan to receive her care,” prosecutors said in a statement.
Shorey became seriously ill after drinking a glass of grape juice Yang gave him on March 24.
He was rushed to hospital suffering diarrhoea, abdominal pain, vomiting, persistent nosebleeds, blood in his urine, and blood spots on his skin and tongue.
He was hospitalised a second time after drinking a grass jelly beverage served by Yang, suffering hypovolemic shock and dehydration.
Prosecutors alleged Yang poisoned Shorey a third time after his father travelled to Taiwan to help bring him home.
While Shorey was critically ill, Yang tried to trick his father into signing a document refusing admission to the intensive care unit by taking advantage of the language barrier.
His father refused, a decision that ultimately saved his son’s life.
The poisoning was only uncovered after Shorey’s mother travelled to Taiwan to pack his belongings and discovered an empty bottle of rat poison in a wardrobe.
Shorey was flown back to Australia on a medical evacuation flight on May 3, 2023, and has since recovered.
“Although Alex fortunately did not die, the suffering he endured in Taiwan was immense,” the Taipei District Prosecutors Office previously said.
“He was at constant risk of massive bleeding from various parts of his body and could have died at any moment.”
During a court hearing in March, Shorey said the relationship had been happy at first.
He told the court they had an open relationship, which he believed reflected Yang’s grief over her late husband.
According to local media, Yang, who studied in the UK, had been married to a British man before he died in 2022.
Yang was charged with attempted murder of Shorey in December 2024.
She pleaded not guilty, claiming she was suffering from mental health issues.
The court found she had shown no remorse for the crime.
She has the option to appeal her sentence.
