One American man, Tyrel Martin Marhanka, stabbed his own neck in a Taiwan courtroom Thursday when he was sentenced for holding drugs. He decided that he did not want to live anymore.
The incident happened after he was charged for possessing poppy seeds, narcotics, and marijuana, which said he grew for personal use. They were found at his rented house in Yongjing Township.
The 41-year-old, who had resided for 15 years in Taiwan, is thought to have hidden a pair of scissors in a magazine so that he could avoid the courtroom's metal detectors, says Taipei Times.
Marhanka was seen shouting in a court at Chengu County near the western city of Taichung, after his interpreter told him that he was sentenced to four years.
"Four years?" he gasped. The interpreter suggested that he could appeal, but Marhanka was too distraught.
"I don't want to live anymore," he yelled and then plunged a pair of "separated" 8-inch scissor blades into both sides of his neck. It severed his arteries, which spouted blood.
He was taken to a local hospital, yet doctors could not help to heal him.
The court statement said: "We deeply regret that Tyrel Martin Marhanka killed himself during the sentencing," according to Agence France-Presse. "He was cooperative during the investigation and the trial. His attitude was mild and he did not show any signs that he would [kill himself]."
Court officials said that they would enhance the security and bring in an X-ray machine to scan people before they entered the courtroom.
Marhanka is survived by his Taiwanese wife, a son in second grade and a daughter in kindergarten. He had been teaching English and was living in Changhua in a rented house.
