Woman handed 11

A Taiwanese woman was yesterday sentenced to 11 years and two months in prison for the attempted murder of Alex Shorey, an Australian exchange student, who was hospitalized after ingesting rodenticide in 2023. The Taipei District Court convicted Yang Chin-ping (楊錦屏), in her late 40s, over the poisoning of Shorey when he was a 24-year-old Chinese-language student at a school in northern Taiwan. Shorey was admitted to an intensive care and later medically evacuated out of Taiwan. Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times He had planned to return to Australia and cut off contact with Yang, with whom he was in an open relationship, leading her to poison him multiple times to stop him from leaving, prosecutors said. The first incident occurred on March 24, 2023, when she put poison in his grape juice, they said. He was hospitalized with nosebleeds and a stomachache, they added. On April 10, she poisoned him with the rodenticide superwarfarin, which caused symptoms including hypovolemic shock and dehydration, they said. When Shorey’s father arrived in Taiwan to arrange his return to Australia for treatment on April 16, 2023, Yang poisoned him again and tricked his father into signing a form refusing admission to the intensive care unit, prosecutors said, adding that his father insisted he be treated regardless. Once Shorey recovered enough to return to Australia in May that year, Yang poisoned him by mixing rat poison with blood pressure medication, putting Shorey in critical condition, prosecutors said. Shorey’s mother discovered an empty bottle of rat poison in his rental accommodation, they added. Shorey 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 intention to harm Shorey. She said the rat poison had been intended for herself, as she was struggling with the death of her late husband, and accused prosecutors of taking her statements out of context. The court said Yang was unhappy with Shorey’s decision to leave Taiwan and she continued poisoning him despite witnessing his suffering. The crime was carefully planned and carried out through cruel means, it said, adding that Yang denied the charges, showed no remorse and made no effort to apologize or compensate the victim. Her repeated actions showed indifference to whether Shorey lived or died and amounted to conditional intent to kill, the judges said. The verdict can be appealed. Shorey’s parents returned to Taiwan to testify in March. His attorney said the sentence was within the legal team’s expectations, and was “reasonable” and “fair” under Taiwan’s laws on attempted murder. Shorey and his family have filed a civil lawsuit, he added. Additional reporting by Weng Ching-yu SHOW OF SUPPORT: The US said it was ‘deeply concerned’ about the Pacific nation’s decision, as Taiwan is a reliable partner and its relationships provide ‘significant benefits’ Taiwan is reassessing its economic ties with Papua New Guinea (PNG) after the Pacific nation on Wednesday unexpectedly ordered the immediate closure of Taipei’s representative office in Port Moresby, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. The ministry convened a meeting to discuss potential responses, which included reviewing Taiwan’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) purchases from Papua New Guinea, Lin said, adding that the nation’s imports of about 1.2 million tonnes of LNG annually accounted for about one-third of the Pacific nation’s LNG exports and were a major source of revenue for the country. In 2024, Papua New Guinea exported US$5.36 BIG DREAMS: The education ministry said it hoped that by hosting the competition next year, it could help Taiwan nurture talented students and foster global connections Taiwanese high-school students over the weekend swept four gold medals at the International Biology Olympiad (IBO) in Lithuania, and secured three golds and one silver at the International Chemistry Olympiad (IChO) in Uzbekistan. All four members of the Taiwan team for IBO — Hsu Ting-jui (許庭睿) from Taichung First Senior High School, Chen Yu-chen (陳語晨) from Taipei First Girls’ High School, and Chan Wei-chun (詹緯濬) and Yao Yi-keng (姚亦耕) from Taipei Municipal Chien Kuo High School — received gold medals in the competition, which was held from Sunday last week to yesterday, the Taiwanese Representative Office in Lithuania said in a ‘GRAY ZONE’ TACTICS: It was the first time a PLA chopper had crossed the line and could be part of training maneuvers in an invasion scenario, a researcher said The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) sent a helicopter across the median line of the Taiwan Strait to traverse a restricted flight zone east of the line for the first time on Monday, introducing two new “gray zone” tactics in a single day, a researcher said yesterday. Four PLA aircraft entered Taiwan’s air defense identification zone in the 24 hours ending at 6am yesterday, the Ministry of National Defense said in its daily report on PLA activities. Among them were PLA helicopters and uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAV), which were detected operating around the median line of the Taiwan Strait, as well as WARTIME RISK: Increased Chinese vessel activity might be rehearsals on how to sever Taiwan’s Pacific supply lines from allies, local officials said Taiwan detected a sharp rise in Chinese coast guard and research vessel activity around the nation last month, prompting Taipei to plan drills simulating Chinese escalations off its Pacific coast, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said. Taiwan reported 55 Chinese government vessel sightings, including coast guard and research boats, around the nation last month, up from 30 in May, CGA data showed. The sightings surged 83 percent from May and 120 percent from the 25 sightings a year earlier. The tally excluded sightings around Taiwan-controlled islands near the Chinese coast. The figures underscore the growing role of China’s coast guard in Beijing’s latest