American Student Sentenced To 3 Years In Scottish Prison For Lacing Classmate’s Wine With Antifreeze

An American student, Alexander Hilton, has been sentenced to three years in a Scottish prison after he laced a classmate’s wine with methanol. Hilton was attending the St. Andrew’s University in Edinburgh when the incident took place.

According to the Daily Mail, American student Alexander Hilton was charged with encouraging another student from the U.S. to drink a class of red wine that he had laced with methanol from antifreeze. The wine was given to the classmate prior to a student ball being held in Fife. After the classmate, Robert Forbes, ingested the toxic cocktail, he experienced kidney failure and temporarily went blind. He was required to undergo kidney dialysis to counteract the methanol poisoning.

The report indicates that Alexander Hilton admitted to a charge of assaulting Forbes, which led to his severe injury, permanent impairment, and the endangerment of his life when Hilton used a funnel to taint the bottle of red wine with the methanol. Therefore, the Scottish court sentenced Hilton to three years in prison for the “wicked and deceitful” crime he committed.

“This was a wicked and deceitful act and it could have had fatal consequences.”

The judge further went on to explain that Forbes now has to live with the prospect of potentially going blind in the future from the wicked poisoning by Hilton. Though Hilton admitted to the crimes, his doctors say the actions were the result of a mental illness. Doctors claimed the mental illness was a “substantial cause” of the behavior and that Hilton had stopped taking his medications in the days leading up to the poisoning. Furthermore, doctors claim that Hilton had turned to alcohol and illegal drugs instead of his medications prescribed by doctors.

Despite the mental illness, the judge says that he would not avoid jail time because he contributed to his poor mental state by stopping his medications and that the serious nature of the offense made jail time mandatory.

“I must have due regard to the public interest in marking the gravity of this offence. I have concluded after careful consideration that a custodial sentence must be imposed in this case.”

Do you think that jail is the right place for Alexander Hilton, or should he be placed in a mental health facility for his three year term? Let us know in the comments.

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