ISSN: 0022-1198
CODEN: JFSCA
Published Online: 10 March 2004
Page Count: 3

Suicide with a Butcher's Bolt
Di Nunno, C
University of Bari,

Costantinides, F
University of Trieste,

Battista, GM
University of Bari,

Viola, L
University of Bari,

Di Nunno, N
University of Bari,

(Received 31 January 2003; accepted 10 January 2004)

Abstract

The captive bolt pistol is an atypical firearm exclusively produced and used for butchery of breeding animals, but in some rare cases, it has been used as a lethal weapon for committing suicide by butchers, breeders and other people who have access to such weapons during their professional activities. This study describes the suicide committed by a butcher in the province of Udine (N. Italy) in 2001 who shot himself with his own captive bolt pistol that produced in the right temporal region a circular wound and a bone lesion of the temporal squama with a groove involving the frontal lobe; he died five days later of the fatal consequences of the meningo-encephalic lesions. The medico-legal issues implicated in this case, seen in the light of the data reported in the international literature, illustrate the difficulties faced when diagnosing these types of lesions, bearing in mind their rarity and peculiar nature, and introduce elements of differential diagnosis regarding lesions produced by similar weapons that lead to ascertainment of the event as accidental, suicidal, or homicidal.

Keywords:
forensic science, butcher's bolt, humane killer, nailgun, studgun, captive bolt pistol, atypical firearms, penetrating cranial wound, meningo-encephalic lesions, suicide, Glasgow Coma Score

Paper ID: JFS2003024
DOI: 10.1520/JFS2003024
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