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29 March 2024

Crazy World: Nurse advises suicide...

Published
By Staff & Agencies

Nurse convicted for advising suicide

MINNESOTA: A former nurse who advised depressed people over the Internet about the best way to tie ropes to hang themselves and encouraged one to webcast the event, was found guilty of inciting two suicides.

William Melchert-Dinkel, 48, of Faribault, Minnesota, surfed the Internet posing as a depressed woman planning her own death and looking for people who might want to form suicide pacts, a Minnesota judge found.

At least two people, a British man and Canadian woman, killed themselves within days after exchanging e-mails or chatting online with Melchert-Dinkel, who advised people on the length and thickness of rope needed for a successful hanging.

Mark Drybrough, 32, of Coventry, hanged himself at his home in 2005. Nadia Kajouji, 18, of Ottawa, jumped into a river in 2008 wearing ice skates. Her body was found more than a month after she was reported missing.

Kajouji had told Melchert-Dinkel in an online chat of her plan to make her death appear like an accidental drowning. Posing as a woman who planned to kill herself at the same time, Melchert-Dinkel advocated hanging as a backup plan.

He sought to gain the confidence and sympathy of the victims by using a false name and gender and his "desire to remain covert and anonymous" proved an intent to induce the suicides, Judge Thomas Neuville wrote in his ruling.

"Defendant never tried to discourage either victim from committing death by suicide, or question the morality or judgment of the act," Neuville wrote. "Rather, the facts indicate repeated and relentless encouragement by defendant to complete the suicide."

A British woman who had frequented a chatroom where people discussed suicidal thoughts warned Minnesota police in March 2008 that she suspected an online predator of encouraging suicides. She later said she suspected Melchert-Dinkel.

A police investigation found e-mails from at least six other people who had been advised by Melchert-Dinkel on how to commit suicide by hanging, including tips on knot-tying.

Melchert-Dinkel asked one potential victim to use a webcam to record her hanging and told a man to practice beforehand to ensure a successful hanging, the judge added in his ruling.

Melchert-Dinkel faces up to 30 years in prison when sentenced on May 4. He had entered a plea in which he accepted the evidence against him and let the judge decide whether his actions constituted a crime.  
 
Man stabbed for refusing 'vampire stuff'

US: An American man has been sentenced to three years of probation for stabbing a man who refused to let him suck his blood.

Maricopa County Superior Court says 24-year-old Aaron Homer pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and was sentenced yesterday.

The Arizona Republic reports 25-year-old Robert Maley once let his roommates suck his blood. But when Maley refused a second time on October 4, he was stabbed.

Chandler police said Mr Maley lived with Homer and his girlfriend.

Maley said the two men were into "vampire stuff".
 
Son forced to sleep in straitjacket

BRITAIN: A boy of 11 was horrifically kept in a STRAITJACKET each night by his stepdad.

The boy was also forced to sleep in ankle shackles from 8.30pm to 8.30am because he was a handful, The Sun reported.

His mother did nothing to stop the nightly 12 hours of hell - plus him having to wear a bondage-style leather helmet that left him unable to see and a collar to stop him moving his head.

Cops swooped after the boy, who went to a special school, told his teacher, said the paper.

The dad, 39 - a former company director with a lust for bondage - was caged for three years at Doncaster Crown Court in South Yorks.

He and the mum - who got two years - admitted child cruelty. Neither can be named.

Judge Jacqueline Davies branded the torture "appalling and grotesque".

She said: "It is difficult to understand how you could have done this to any human being."

The boy is now fostered.
 
Man whinges to cop about drug ripoff

CONNECTICUT: A man was arrested in the US after complaining to a police officer that he had been cheated by a cocaine dealer.

Antonio Recinos, a native of El Salvador, initially dialled 911 on Monday to complain that he had been ripped-off by his dealer in the $US40 transaction, The Smoking Gun reported.

When he spotted a police officer on the street in East Hartford, Connecticut, Recinos showed the officer the small bag of cocaine and complained that he had been overcharged.

Police said it appeared that Recinos, 35, had been drinking before buying the cocaine and approaching the officer.

He was arrested on a charge of narcotics possession. He was freed on $US5000 bail and is scheduled to appear in court on March 30, police said.
 
Love cheat wears a ‘sorry’ billboard

BRITAIN: Love rat Joe Page proved to his girlfriend how sorry he was - by parading around town wearing a confession written on a sandwich board.

Joe, 26, strode into action after sweetheart Jess Little discovered on Facebook he had a secret date with another woman.

His admission read on the front: "I cheated on my girlfriend. I am humiliating myself to show I am sorry." On the back it continued: "I love her so much. I will do anything to get her back. I am so sorry."

Stand-up comic Joe, of Brighton, said: "I think people had some sympathy for me because I looked like a complete idiot."

He added: "It was interesting when I saw couples. Men seemed horrified that someone was going to these sort of lengths."

One woman sighed "Ah, it's so romantic." But an onlooker said: "Most of the women were laughing. The men were trying their best not to acknowledge him."

Joe persuaded artist Jess to meet up and the couple went to the beach for peace talks.

Afterwards Joe said he was being given another chance 
 
Girl skips school for 3 months to play games

SINGAPORE: She almost dropped out of school and her mother was on the brink of giving up on her.

All because of her addiction to gaming.

And 16-year-old Mary (we are not naming her because of her young age) is not alone.

While gaming addiction tends to be associated with boys, counsellors are now seeing more girls with the same problem, although such cases are rare.

They point to underlying issues such as loneliness and boredom at home that are causing teenagers to turn to gaming.

Mary started gaming when she was 13.

The timid girl didn't have many friends in school.

It didn't help that she is much taller and bigger than her peers. She said she was mocked in school because of her physique.

At home, the only child had no one to turn to as her mother, the sole breadwinner in the family, works long hours to support her and her ailing grandfather.

The family declined to reveal the whereabouts of Mary's father.

She started going to local area network (LAN) shops and was gradually drawn into the virtual world of MapleStory and online dancing game Audition.

Most days, she spent up to 10 hours at a LAN shop and even skipped lunch to save money to pay for the gaming. She gets $10 a day as pocket money.

The loner also found companionship with fellow gamers.

She told The New Paper: "I'm happy because in the game, I have friends. I can talk to somebody and they listen to me. Whenever I miss my online friends, I would feel the urge to play."

As she played for longer hours, she became more tired and ended up skipping school.

Initially, it was only for a day or two, but then her truancy started lasting for weeks and months.

Soon, Mary's studies suffered. In Secondary 4 and while studying for her N levels, she was failing her subjects and she was ashamed to go to school as she felt that she had let her teachers down.

At one point, she stopped going to school for three months.