Penis-Chopper Commits Suicide

A 43-year-old French policeman from the town of Strasbourg in eastern France has committed suicide in jail. He was arrested after he chopped off the penis of his wife's lover. The father of five, who had been placed on a suicide watch, killed himself using a bed sheet and left a farewell letter, a prison spokesman said.

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According to prosecutors, the policeman went over to his wife's lover's house in the nearby town of Reichshoffen, knocked his 54-year-old rival senseless, dragged him into his garage and castrated him using a box cutter. He then told neighbors to call an ambulance and surrendered himself to fellow officers.

Charged with "a barbarous act of torture and mutilation" the man had faced a maximum of 30 years in jail. An initial psychiatric report concluded that he acted in cold blood, and recommended that he be detained in a psychiatric facility. He reportedly told the psychiatrist that he wanted "to punish his rival."

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