Singaporean student accused of poisoning Stanford University classmates
Researcher on scholarship in US allegedly tampered with drinking water
A Singaporean student, originally from mainland China and on a scholarship at Stanford University in the US, has been charged in a California court with poisoning her classmates.
Ouyang Xiangyu, 27, a biochemistry graduate student on a prestigious Singapore scholarship, faces four charges of poisoning the drinking water of fellow students with paraformaldehyde between September and November last year. The chemical is used to preserve tissue samples.
Two of the five classmates whose water bottles she allegedly tampered with were also originally from China and did research work in the same laboratory.
Ouyang is free on US$50,000 bail but is restricted from leaving the United States. Stanford University has also ordered her to stay away from its campus in California.
In court papers seen by the South China Morning Post, Ouyang's defence lawyer indicated her client would plead not guilty by reason of insanity, pending an evaluation of her mental state.
Ouyang began showing problems last August when she allegedly started sabotaging a laboratory colleague's experiment, the defence documents said.
A Singaporean doctorate student told the Post that Ouyang was "soft-spoken and easy-going". Speaking on condition of anonymity, she said: "She's not somebody who likes attention. The conversations we had were pretty superficial. We talk about food, random Singaporean stuff and A*Star [the Agency for Science, Technology and Research in Singapore which had awarded Ouyang the scholarship].
"In a group setting over meals, she would be mainly quiet," the student said. "I know she's stressed about her research, not her grades. Grades don't really matter when you're pursuing your PhD."
The court documents said Xing Liujing and Zhao Ludan, two female graduate student researchers from China who worked in the same lab, said they felt a burning sensation in their throats after drinking the water.
Ouyang was arrested last November. When interviewed by police, she claimed she had suffered from severe insomnia and dizziness.
"I wasn't very clear about why I was doing it and what exactly I was doing," she was reported as saying.
A*Star told the Singapore media it would not take action on the issue until after the court case.