Man cuts off finger in court over debt

[amsroks]

A Portuguese businessman said he cut off one of his fingers in court with a butcher's knife in an "act of despair" after a judge refused his offer to settle a 170,000 euro (152,500 pound) debt and said part of his farm must be sold.

"My intention was to tear up all the case papers and splatter them with blood so I could prevent the expropriation order for my land," Orico Silva was quoted as saying in local media after his drastic action in the court house.

Silva, who owns a 20 hectare (50 acre) farm in the central town of Figueira da Foz, was being sued by a company for holding onto a cash deposit on a land deal which had fallen through, the local newspaper said.

"I freaked out when the judge refused my offer to pay the debt and ordered the sale of part of my land. I told her I had a 1.2 million euro bank guarantee which would have allowed me to pay the debt," Silva said.

When he went to take the bank papers from his briefcase, he noticed the butcher's knife he had recently bought at a market and decided to cut off his index finger, using a court desk as a chopping board. He then cut the finger into three.

"I didn't feel anything, I could even have cut off all my fingers. It was an act of despair," he said.

[eoinzy]

lol thats nasty. hope he doesnt play guitar or piano!!

[Maz_the_Spaz]

What a dickhead

[eoinzy]

holy crap, i jsut read it again.

he had a butchers knife which he jsut bought" and brought to court. thats weird first of all.
secondly, he cut the finger off, then cut it into 3 pieces!! freak! could ya imagine him there slicing it up on the choppin board like a cucumber or something!!

[Maz_the_Spaz]

The chances are that's not true What's your source?

[eoinzy]

pfft, sources schmources! who needs a source when you can make up much more fun stuff!!

[amsroks]

nah its actually true i read the story on yahoo news!!
" It was an act of despair,"

[eoinzy]

there ya go! thats proof enough for me!!

[Maz_the_Spaz]

No! I still don't buy it! The chap is on trial right, his bags are more than likely gonna be searched and they're not gonna let him in with no butcher knife Also, whats worse is, he apparently had the time to take this knife outta his brief case and chop off his finger without anyone stepping in, but even if thats true, no judge or courtroom security are gonna stand there watchin as this chap chops his finger into tiny bits
Here's what really happened... the chap was peeling potatos for the dinner, the knife slipped, the n ext day someone asked him what happened to his finger n he told them this story!

[eoinzy]

lol ye good point actually. unless he was a chef and was super fast at cuttin stuff like some of them are. ya know when ya see them cuttin carrots and stuff at 100mph!!