An American man killed himself by cutting his neck in a courtroom in Changhua County yesterday morning, after being convicted of possession of marijuana and sentenced to four years in prison.
The man — identified as 41-year-old US citizen Tyrel Martin Marhanka — was rushed to a local hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.
According to witnesses, after the Changhua District Court judge read his ruling, Marhanka turned to the translator, who told him the sentence, before Marhanka was heard saying: “Four years?”
Photo: Screengrab from the Internet
The translator told Marhanka that he could appeal the decision, but he replied: “I don’t want to appeal.”
Becoming agitated, he yelled: “I don’t want to live anymore,” took out two metal objects, and with one in each hand stabbed himself on both sides of the neck, severing the arteries, which gushed blood, according to witnesses.
Court officials said Marhanka had smuggled in a pair of 21cm scissors, which he had separated into two sharp metal blades.
Marhanka was arrested in April last year and charged with possession of marijuana and other narcotics, after police found more than 200 cannabis plants, 195 dried cannabis plants and 10 opium poppies at a rented house in Yongjing Township (永靖), Changhua County.
At the time of his arrest, Marhanka told police officers he grew the plants as a “hobby” and that they were all intended for his own use.
Marhanka had lived in Taiwan for more than 15 years, and had a Taiwanese wife and two children — a son in second grade and a daughter in kindergarten — court officials said.
His wife was distraught when notified of the news, and went to the hospital where he had died.
The district court convened a press conference yesterday afternoon, in which presiding judge Wang Yi-min (王義閔) said the court regretted what happened, and that Marhanka’s family and the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) had been contacted through judiciary channels.
Wang said there was negligence in the incident, adding that the court would improve security measures, including installing an X-ray machine to check on people entering the court’s new building.
Wang said the bailiffs in the courtroom rushed in to help Marhanka and tried to stop the bleeding, but the incident happened too quickly and they were too late to prevent his death.
Medics who rushed Marhanka to the local hospital said the victim’s neck had 12cm and 7cm lacerations on the left and right sides respectively. He was still conscious when they arrived at the hospital, but died about 30 minutes later.
A subsidiary of a Hong Kong-based company that has lost control of two critical ports on the Panama Canal said it is seeking US$2 billion of compensation in damages from Panama over its “illegal” takeover of the ports. Panama Ports Co, a unit of Hong Kong’s CK Hutchison Holdings (長江和記實業), on Friday said in a statement that it is demanding the sum under international arbitration proceedings that it had already started. The Panamanian government last week seized control of the Balboa and Cristobal ports on each end of the Panama Canal, after the country’s Supreme Court declared earlier that a concession allowing
DETERRENCE: With 1,000 indigenous Hsiung Feng II and III missiles and 400 Harpoon missiles, the nation would boast the highest anti-ship missile density in the world With Taiwan wrapping up mass production of Hsiung Feng II and III missiles by December and an influx of Harpoon missiles from the US, Taiwan would have the highest density of anti-ship missiles in the world, a source said yesterday. Taiwan is to wrap up mass production of the indigenous anti-ship missiles by the end of year, as the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology has been meeting production targets ahead of schedule, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said. Combined with the 400 Harpoon anti-ship missiles Taiwan expects to receive from the US by 2028, the nation would have
POSSIBILITIES EMERGE: With Taiwan’s victory and Japan’s narrow win over Australia, Taiwan now have a chance to advance if South Korea also beat the Aussies Taiwan has high hopes that the national baseball team would advance to the World Baseball Classic (WBC) quarter-finals after clinching a crucial 5-4 victory over South Korea in a nail-biting extra-inning game at the Tokyo Dome yesterday. Boosted by three home runs — two solo shots by Yu Chang (張育成) and Cheng Tsung-che (鄭宗哲) and a two-run homer by Stuart Fairchild — the triumph gave Taiwan a much-needed second victory in the five-team Pool C, where only the top two finishers would advance to the knockout stage in Miami, Florida. Entering extra innings with the game tied at four apiece, Taiwan scored
MISSION OF PEACE: The foreign minister urged Beijing to respect Taiwan’s existence as an independent nation, and work together to ensure peace and stability in the region Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) yesterday rejected Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi’s (王毅) comments about Taiwan, criticizing China as a “troublemaker” in the international community and a disruptor of cross-strait peace. Speaking at a news conference on the sidelines of the Chinese National People’s Congress, Wang said that Taiwan has always been a territory of China and that it would be impossible for it to become its own country. The “return” of Taiwan to China was the natural outcome of the Chinese people’s resistance against Japan in World War II, and that any pursuit of independence was “doomed
RSS