Shanghai medical student who fatally poisoned roommate is sentenced to death
Lin Senhao sentenced to die after putting toxic chemical in drinking water dispenser and killing roommate at Shanghai Medical College
A former Shanghai medical student who fatally poisoned his roommate last year in what he said was an April Fool’s joke was sentenced to death yesterday.
Lin Senhao, a former master’s student at Fudan University’s Shanghai Medical College, was convicted of murder after he put a toxic chemical he was studying into his dormitory’s water cooler last March, the Shanghai No 2 Intermediate People’s Court announced on its official Sina Weibo account.
After drinking the tainted water, Lin’s roommate, Huang Yang, fell ill with a fever and began vomiting. He died from multiple organ failure after two weeks in intensive care.
“I was not surprised by the verdict,” said Jiang Qinhong, one of Lin’s defence lawyers.
“The best result we were hoping for was the death sentence with a reprieve since it was an intentional homicide case, but Lin’s parents insisted on Lin’s innocence and did not formally apologise or offer any form of compensation to the victim’s family, which made the reprieve almost impossible,” he said.
The court said Lin, who was aged 27 at the time of the killing, deliberately concealed the true cause of Huang’s illness from the authorities while his roommate was fighting for his life in hospital.