45-year-old Taiwanese woman investigated for attempted murder of Australian student

45歲台灣女子謀殺澳洲學生未遂被調查

Prosecutors suspect woman was deliberately poisoning student to prevent him from leaving Taiwan


TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Prosecutors are investigating the Taiwanese girlfriend of Australian exchange student Alex Shorey for attempted homicide (殺人未遂) after she admitted to preparing drinks mixed with rat poison.

After 24-year-old Shorey was found to have ingested rat poison, his 45-year-old Taiwanese girlfriend told prosecutors that she had prepared the poison for herself to commit suicide after the death of her alleged husband, but Shorey had consumed the poison by accident. However, inconsistencies in her accounts have led prosecutors to suspect that she was deliberately poisoning Shorey to prevent him from leaving Taiwan, reported SET News.

The Taipei District Prosecutors Office ordered the Taipei City Police Department's Criminal Investigation Division and the Xinyi Precinct to conduct an investigation, obtain medical records from the hospital, and interview Shorey's parents as witnesses. They also searched the woman's home, where they discovered an empty 30-milliliter bottle of rat poison, after which she was summoned by police on May 4.

The woman told police she had met Shorey through a friend in December 2022. Since Shorey regularly teaches English at a cram school, he would go to her home to prepare lessons, and they developed a close friendship, she said.

She alleged that because her husband died recently, she intended to commit suicide by drinking fruit juice laced with rat poison. She prepared two cups of the fruit drink and after drinking one, felt no ill effects, so when Shorey tried to drink the other, she did not attempt to stop him.

The woman claimed that once Shorey had a strong reaction to the drink, she immediately called an ambulance. She frequently visited Shorey and cared for him at the hospital.

However, investigators said that Shorey made multiple visits to the hospital for the same symptoms, suggesting multiple poisonings had occurred. Shorey first sought emergency hospital treatment on March 15, again on March 16, and a third time on April 11, before being transferred to intensive care on April 18.

In addition, investigators found no marriage record of the woman in Taiwan. The woman claimed that there was no record because her spouse was a foreign national, and they had married overseas, reported TVBS.

During the questioning, she insisted that she and Shorey were just friends, but the relationship was very close. She said that they had several "intimate encounters."

She denied feelings for Shorey and said that he was "not her type." The questioning took 10 hours, and at one point she cried during the interrogation.

Prosecutors determined that she was emotionally unstable and temporarily restricted the woman from leaving the country. She is currently being investigated for attempted homicide and negligence causing serious injury (過失致重傷害罪).

Shorey could also undergo questioning via video conferencing.