American Commits Suicide in Taiwan Court
Image Credit: jaumescar (Flickr)
Teacher stabs himself in Taiwan courtroom after being sentenced to jail for possession of marijuana plants.
American English teacher, Tyrel Martin Marhanka who had been living in Taiwan for 15 years with a Taiwanese wife and two children, fatally cut his neck in open court, with a pair of metal scissors. This happened not long after discovering his 4 year sentence at Changhua District Court for growing and storing cannabis plants and opium poppies.
Taipei Times reports 41 year old Tyrel Martin Marhanka replied “four years?” The interpreter told Marhanka that he could appeal, but Marhanka replied “I don’t want to appeal.”
According to the Taipei Times, Marhanka yelled “I don’t want to live anymore” before slicing the carotid arteries on each side of his neck. The small scissors were apparently smuggled into the courthouse in a magazine.
During the same time of Marhanka’s arrest in April the police discovered more than’ 200 cannabis plants, 195 dries cannabis plants and 10 opium poppies at a house which was rented by Marhanka in Yongjing Township, Canghua County’ reports Taipei Times.
The Changhua District Court gave four years but could have given a prison sentence of up to seven years if the husband and father of two had sold anything, but he kept the plants only for his own use.
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