There was a man in Yellowknife NWT who did this same thing in 2005 or 2006 I think. He just could not take the injustice anymore.
JS


Man decapitates himself after bitter divorce
A gym owner who decapitated himself in his Aston Martin sports car was heavily in debt and going through a bitter divorce, an inquest has heard.
By Jessica Salter
07 Aug 2008 7:52PM BST
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/2518675/Man-decapitates-himself-after-bitter-divorce.html

Gerald Mellin, 54, tied one end of a rope around a tree in a car park and the other around his neck and drove his car out on to the main road through Swansea, the inquest heard.

A suicide note was found in a bag he was wearing when an ambulance crew came across the scene in the early hours of September 14 last year.

His estranged wife, Mirrielle, told Swansea Coroner's Court that two weeks before his death he had shown her a rope in the boot of his car and told her he intended to kill himself with it. But she thought it was just a "cry for help" rather than a real attempt at suicide. She said Mr Mellin had self-harmed and made a number of attempts on his life during their short and "horrendous" marriage "He would say suicidal thoughts, but I never actually believed that he would do anything. It was always a cry for help with Gerald. That's why I find it hard to believe this time around," she said.

Mr Mellin owned a gym and sun tanning centre. The pair had been in court the previous day where she was awarded an extra £100 a week from him. That evening she received a text from him saying "Congratulations XXX". She said she did not know about the financial pressure he was under until after his death when she discovered he was in "an extortionate amount of debt".

Records showed that Mr Mellin was being treated for depression at the time of his death and was first seen by a psychiatrist at the age of four for anxiety.

Coroner Phillip Rogers said: "There is nothing to suggest this was anything other than a deliberate act." He added: "On the evidence I have heard – notwithstanding Mrs Mellin's view of her husband's actions in the past and on this occasion that this was a cry for help – I'm satisfied no-one could have done what Mr Mellin did without realising the consequence of such an action would be his own death."

The coroner returned a verdict that Mr Mellin took his own life and said the cause of death was recorded as decapitation.

Once again, the media try to avoid the details of a divorce by staying above the fray and calling the divorce "bitter" or "nasty." As always, the devil is in the details. Perhaps if we could understand the dynamics of a troubled marriage (instead of being armchair judges), we might learn something. The media is lazy in this regard, acts morally detached, and yet still manages to convey its own judgment in the wording of the story. And so here we are, poring over the gory details.

Normally, I would tend to believe that it is the man whose soul is more severely numbed by his wife's behavior while in the throes of a divorce, and this is because while men tend to be providers in marriages, women initiate 2/3 of all divorces. HOWEVER, using the threat of suicide in order to influence another person's behavior seems a bit abusive (or at least emotionally disturbed) to me. It's my opinion that this man warned his wife of his suicide in order to shame her into giving him some power (never count on a woman to feel shame). When she declined to meet his hopes or expectations, he "punished" her not just by killing himself, but by doing so in the most shocking manner possible.

It's terrible that he felt so weak and powerless that his most powerful statement was to shock his wife through the most gruesome act of suicide. Perhaps he could have gotten treatment, or learned the sometimes bitter lesson of manhood by taking responsibility for his own happiness. But instead of enduring and overcoming the pain and powerlessness, he chose to decapitate himself. I do feel for him, but far more I sympathize for his Ex wife.

He could've made some donations to the Men's Rights movement.

Cup-cake was awarded with another 100 pounds extra vaginamony for her amazing achievement of divorcing and stealing assets of her former husband. The Familycourt aka Divorce Corporation as usual didn't take Mr Mellin's situation into consideration and pushed him over the brink with disastrous consequences.