Woman in China, in her 30s, kills lover with underwear & cough syrup tainted with herbicide, gets 14 years' jail

A fortune teller in Sichuan, China, who passed away before his 60th birthday, appeared to have fulfilled his prediction that he would likely die in his 50s.

However, in a bizarre turn of events, the man's lover was jailed 14 years for his murder after she was found to have given him underwear soaked in herbicide, and cough syrup mixed with the same substance to drink, so as to take revenge on him.

The woman did so because he did not fulfil his promise to marry her, but asked her to get an abortion after he got her pregnant.

According to Chinese media, the people's court of Shunqing district in Nanchong sentenced the woman, Jing, to 14 years' jail for intentional homicide in September 2024.

Her appeal was recently dismissed by a Nanchong intermediate court, who upheld the original decision.

Got her pregnant but didn't take responsibility

Jing reportedly met the fortune teller, known by his alias Zhou, in 2011, when she was in her 20s.

At that time, Jing's mother had late-stage cancer, so Jing engaged Zhou, a fortune teller in his 50s, to help cure the illness.

Ultimately, Zhou was unable to cure Jing's mother, and she passed away.

However, by that point, the two had got closer and became lovers.

During their relationship, Jing repeatedly asked Zhou to marry her, but Zhou did not take things further.

Instead, Zhou re-applied for a marriage certificate with his ex-wife, which angered Jing.

In February 2017, Jing started dating a man named Guo, while secretly continuing her relationship with Zhou.

That same month, Guo discovered that Jing and Zhou were lovers, and quarrelled with her.

In April 2017, Jing found out she was pregnant, and repeatedly contacted Zhou, asking him to take responsibility.

However, Zhou asked Jing to get an abortion instead.

He also lied to Jing that he had cancer and expressed his hope that she would find someone else to spend her life with.

Gave him cough syrup mixed with herbicide

In May 2017, after reading up on paraquat, a toxic chemical typically used as a herbicide, Jing gave Zhou cough syrup mixed with the substance.

She also coated four pairs of underwear, as well as a pack of cigarettes, with paraquat, and gave these to Zhou.

Zhou developed ulcers on his body after wearing the underwear given by Jing.

And after Zhou drank the cough syrup, his throat experienced a tingling sensation, which proved fatal.

He was hospitalised in May 2017, and passed away before his 60th birthday.

An autopsy found that Zhou had died from paraquat poisoning.

At the time, some felt that Zhou's death showed that his previous divination had come true.

While telling his own fortune, Zhou had predicted that "in his 50s, there would be a disaster that results in life or death".

However a series of unsettling events made Zhou's family suspect that the man was the target of malice.

Before Zhou was hospitalised, someone had broken into the family car and cut the brakes.

On another occasion, Zhou's office door was pried open.

Zhou's daughter also tried feeding a mouse with apple slices soaked in the "cough syrup" Zhou had been drinking, and found that it died within hours.

So, they reported the matter to the police, who subsequently arrested Jing.

Court gave her 14 years' jail

The Shunqing district court found that over the course of their relationship, Jing had threatened to kill herself and also searched online for ways to kill Zhou as he did not fulfil his promise to marry her.

On multiple occasions, Jing had also asked her friends to send Zhou's family insulting calls and messages.

The court found that Jing had deliberately taken steps to poison Zhou to take revenge for "causing her to have several miscarriages" and "ruining her life".

Jing appealed against the court's 14-year jail term decision in September 2024.

Her defence lawyer argued that Zhou had taken advantage of Jing's vulnerability to pursue a relationship with her, and opined that Zhou was partly culpable for what happened as he did not take responsibility for Jing's pregnancy.

However, the Nanchong court held that these arguments had been considered in the initial decision, and rejected Jing's appeal.

Top image from Weibo/Canva