Orico Silva, a Portuguese businessman, decided to cut off one of his fingers with a butcher's knife after being ordered by a judge to sell off part of his farm to pay off his debt despite Silva having enough money to cover the 170,000 euro debt.
A distraught Silva then proceeded to cut off his own index finger using a butcher's knife he had purchased earlier at a market. He had hoped to cover the papers in blood in an attempt to prevent the expropriation order for his land.
"I freaked out when the judge refused my offer to pay the debt and ordered the sale of part of my land," Silva said. "I didn't feel anything, I could even have cut off all my fingers. It was an act of despair." he concluded.
