STRANGE DEATHS UNUSUAL WAYS OF SHUFFLING OFF THIS MORTAL COIL
Last October a Filipino policeman was killed raiding an illegal cockfight when one of the birds slashed his femoral artery with its gaff, a steel blade fixed next to its leg [FT401:80 ].A similar death took place in India in late February. Thanugula Satish,
45, bled to death before he could get to hospital. His bird leapt in the air and slashed his groin with its 3in gaff. Satish had organised the bout in Lothunur village in Telangana, southern India. Cockfighting is illegal in India and 15 men linked to the event were on the run. Times, Metro, 1 Mar 2021.
Former bus driver Sean McDonell, of Raheen, Co Limerick, organised a bestiality encounter with his dog and a woman he had met online. The 43-yearold woman travelled to McDonell’s home where she engaged in sexual intercourse with his Alsatian, but died shortly afterwards, possibly due to an allergic reaction to the dog’s sperm. McDonnell, 58, was convicted of buggery with his dog but was spared jail. The judge ruled that while “even in these tolerant times, acts of bestiality are socially repugnant,” a custodial sentence was inappropriate. The unfortunate woman had come to his home of her own free will, and neither had any idea that an allergic reaction might occur. McDonnell lost his bus driver job and was disowned by his family. Local reaction was such that he was compelled to move to the UK where he sought counselling at the well-known Priory Clinic. Due to financial difficulties, he was unable to continue this treatment and was now embarking upon “long-term counselling” elsewhere. McDonnell’s name was added to the sex offender register which disqualifies anyone from having a haulage licence for a vehicle carrying over nine passengers. The dog was later destroyed. irishcentral.com,15 Dec; limerickpost.ie, 19 Dec 2012.
A father-to-be died after a device he was building for his child’s gender-reveal party exploded. Christopher Pekny, 28, from the town of Liberty, New York, was assembling the device when it exploded, killing Mr Pekny and injuring his brother Michael, 27. Gender-reveal parties are celebrations when expectant mothers announce whether they are going to have a girl or a boy. Police have not specified what device caused the explosion, but a spokesman said it consisted of some kind of pipe. Mr Pekny’s death is the latest in a series of catastrophes linked to gender-reveal parties, which can include announcements being made with fireworks and coloured smoke grenades. Earlier this year a Michigan man was killed after being struck by shrapnel from “a small cannon type device” fired during a baby shower. BBC News, 23 Feb 2021.
Intending to film themselves for a YouTube prank, Timothy Wilks, 20, and a friend armed themselves with butcher knives and approached a group of people in a Nashville, Tennessee, car park. Among the group was David Starnes Jr., 23, who promptly shot Mr Wilks dead in self-defence. nbcnews. com, 6 Feb 2021.
A French couple, each driving a different car, were killed in a head-on collision with each other near their home in Nouailles, northern France, in January 1985. Initially amazed at the coincidence, the police were trying to eliminate the possibility of a double suicide. Philippe Bovery, 43, and his wife Dominique, 37, appeared to have left their home nearby the accident late at night, separately. One of them was driving on the wrong side of the road. But due to the carnage it was impossible to say who it was. One theory was that the wife wanted to give her husband a surprise and meet on the way home. Eve. Standard, 25 Jan 1985.
“The following very singular and melancholy accident happened at Weedon Beck, in Northamptonshire, on Tuesday last: One John Kidesley, passing by the door of Thomas Moreton, threw four small fishes into the house, when Elizabeth Dunn, a neighbour, going in, too up one of them, a perch, and by squeezing endeavoured to kill it; Thomas Butlin, a baker, being in the room, and seeing the transaction, told Dunn, that if she did so again he would put it in her mouth, and holding it towards her face, she opened her mouth, and the fish at the same instant sprung from Butlin’s hand into her throat, where it remaining immoveable, caused her immediate death.” Leeds Intelligencer, 29 Aug 1780 (original report in Northampton Mercury, 21 Aug 1780).