Yukai Yang, a former senior chemistry student at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania, has been sentenced to seven to 20 years in prison for poisoning his roommate with thallium, a heavy metal, three years ago. Yang was sentenced to 7 to 20 years in prison on Wednesday (March 24) for poisoning his roommate with thallium, a heavy metal.
Yang, 24, will be deported to China after completing his sentence. He apologized to his victim, Juwan Royal, in court on Wednesday. Roy, an African-American, had been his roommate for many years, and the two were thought to have a good relationship and to have gotten along well. He has said that Roy was his only friend while he was a student in the United States. Yang was convicted of “attempted murder” last November after admitting that he bought heavy metal thallium in March 2018 and began pouring it little by little into his roommate Roy’s Food and mouthwash. Roy then experienced burning burns in his throat, vomiting, dizziness, pain in his lower extremities, he fainted several times, felt very tired, had headaches, heart palpitations, and developed a rash on his body. He experienced great pain and pain in his legs and feet, and eventually he lost consciousness in his lower extremities. His Family described that they stayed with Roy through a month of sleepless nights as he cried out in pain.
“The screams (from his son) sounded like someone was stabbing him with an ice pick,” Roy’s father, Ray Royal, said, according to local media outlet The Morning Call. “I couldn’t get rid of the screaming.” In April 2018, Roy was diagnosed with heavy metal poisoning, and doctors tested his body for “thallium.” Thallium is an odorless metal that is more toxic than lead and mercury and is the main ingredient in rodenticides, and even small amounts are highly toxic. There is no ideal treatment for thallium poisoning.
According to local media outlet The Morning Call, Yang Yu Kai apologized Wednesday before the sentencing. He said he was sorry for hurting Roy, for the pain he caused his family, and for the shame he brought on his own family and his country. “I can’t undo the physical harm that I did to you. I cannot undo the pain I have caused your family. I am here today to receive the punishment I deserve.” Yang Yu Kai said. Before sentencing, Roy and his Parents, grandmother and the psychologist who diagnosed Yang Yu Kai all submitted testimony to the court. Yang Yukai’s parents and his colleagues in China, as well as professors from Caspian University, also sent letters to the court pleading for mercy, and two professors were present in court on Wednesday. Northamptonshire Judge Stephen Baratta handed down his decision after a lengthy hearing.
The judge noted that despite his expressions of remorse, Yucai never took the initiative to explain what he had done while watching his roommate suffer, or to point doctors in the direction of effective treatment so they could begin as soon as possible. The judge said, “You just sit there and watch your friend disintegrate right in front of your eyes.”
Dr. Frank Dattilio, a psychologist, testified that Yu-Kai Yang was separated from his parents at the young age of 2 and did not return to them until high school. The trauma from that period was never resolved. Although he was raised by kind grandparents, Yu-Kai Yang’s family made academic success his top priority. Dattilio said (that pressure) was so pronounced that after Yang Yukai finished second in the nation in a biology competition, “he still thought he was a failure.” Yucai Yang said in court that he had two majors and two minors at Caspian University, was so preoccupied with pursuing his grades and facing the pressure of his studies alone that he once forgot to eat for days at a Time.
That internal pressure, combined with the stigma attached to mental health issues, set up a dangerous environment for Yang, Dattilio said. Says Yu-Kai Yang, “I did everything I could to become an academic success. It drove me to the brink of insanity.” Yu-Kai Yang and Roy became friends. Roy said he would encourage Yang Yu Kai to pull himself together when he was drowning in negativity. The two have been roommates for four years, and Roy has taken Yucai to his house many times. But during his last semester at Caspian, Yang Yu Kai became upset when Roy revealed that he wanted to move off campus to continue his studies.
Dattilio said Yunkai left racist graffiti and threats to “get out” in the dormitory to get Roy’s attention. He craved Roy’s attention. Yucai told the psychologist that he intended to apologize for his vandalism, but he believed he could not once police got involved and charged him with racial intimidation.
The Morning Call reports that the charges are pending. Yu-Kai Yang said he tried to kill himself before graduation and prepared a “suicide text message” that he could send to his family if he wanted to kill himself. He said he tried to kill himself more than once and bought thallium online to poison himself. “I’ve learned (now) that I should think twice before I act,” he said. “I learned that I should think about the consequences of hurting others. I learned there is no shame in talking about and getting help (for mental health issues). It’s shameful to ignore and hurt others.”
By the time Roy sought medical attention in New York to diagnose the poisoning, his body had already taken a severe toll and his treatment plan was moving slowly. Roy’s mother, Tanisha, described watching her son suffer and being unable to do anything about it as a nightmare. She said, “All I could do was treat him like my 2-month-old baby.” She describes how she patted her son’s body until he fell asleep, sang to him and prayed with him. “All I knew was that my son was not doing well and I thought I might lose him.” Ray Roy said his wife and mother-in-law were the strong ones during the ordeal, staying with their son as he cried out in pain. As a father, he felt like a coward, leaving for work early in the morning in order to escape his son’s pain, a pain that no one could relieve. “I’m a veteran of the Gulf War. I’m not asking to be praised for saying that.”
Ray Roy said in court, “I’m just saying that to show that I have some experience and I can hold my own. But now this, we’re scared of the night like watching some kind of horror movie.” First Assistant District Attorney Richard Pepper found Young Yu-Kai “manipulative” because, he said, he used the toxin only to draw attention to his suffering, and he did not intend to cause any lasting damage. “Whether he knew it was a lethal dose or not, he knew the damn drug was going to kill Roy,” Pepper said. Pepper said. Roy said he is ready to move past the pain, anxiety and fear, although he still has concerns about the long-term effects on his body. He forgave Young Yukay. Roy later clarified that his forgiveness for Yang Yu-Kai was only for this part of what he himself had suffered, “I forgive him for what he did to me, but I can’t forgive him for what he did to my family.”
Recent Comments