Surrey Woman Loses Appeal in Vancouver Court Attack Case

A Surrey woman has lost her appeal to overturn a 12-year prison sentence for attempted murder after attacking another woman with a knife and hammer in a Vancouver courtroom in 2021. Qin Shen, 53, assaulted Jing Lu — with whom she had been feuding online for nearly two decades — during a contempt-of-court hearing. The Court of Appeal for British Columbia dismissed Shen’s bid to reduce her sentence, ruling that the trial judge made no error in assessing her moral blameworthiness. The court found the attack was premeditated and exceptionally violent, despite Shen’s claims that her mental-health issues warranted leniency.