Jilin man jailed six years over beer poisoning plot
AM730 · 3 SOURCES1 day ago2 MIN
Summary
A 30-year-old unemployed man surnamed Zhou in Changchun, Jilin, was sentenced in a second-instance ruling to six years in prison for intentional homicide after poisoning his cousin’s beer during a restaurant meal, sending five people to hospital. The case stemmed from Zhou’s jealousy over what he saw as his mother’s greater care and emotional attention toward his cousin, surnamed Li. Court documents said Li noticed an unusual taste after drinking the beer, but restaurant staff also sampled it after it was mistaken for a product-quality problem, leading to multiple poisonings. The appellate court overturned the first-instance eight-year sentence and imposed a six-year term after finding attempted intentional homicide against the restaurant waiters was not established.
Key Points
- The poisoning happened on April 30 last year in Changchun, where Zhou had arranged for his mother to invite cousin Li to a restaurant dinner.
- Zhou had bought 5 grams of toxic powder in advance, diluted part of it with water, and stored it in eyedropper bottles before the meal.
- During dinner, he secretly added part of the substance to Li’s beer bottle while Li was not paying attention, according to the court record.
- After Li complained of an odd taste, four restaurant staff members sampled the beer; Zhou did not stop them, and all five later developed dizziness and nausea.
- Police arrested Zhou at the hospital shortly after midnight the next day, and he admitted poisoning the beer; Li was at one point unconscious, feverish and medically unstable.
Why It Matters
The case shows how a targeted poisoning in a public dining setting can quickly endanger bystanders as well as the intended victim, a risk that resonates in any densely populated city including Hong Kong. It also underlines how appellate courts can reassess both intent and the scope of harm, materially changing a sentence even when the core conviction remains in place.