The Null Device

The handyman can

A DIY enthusiast in Sheffield spent weeks building a guillotine, with which he decapitated himself. Kevin Brunie, 42, told relatives that his secret project was a toy car. He was unemployed and was thought to have recovered from depression, and was reported to have been in good spirits days before he died. (A lot of suicides are reported to have been uncommonly cheerful just prior to doing themselves in; take Ian Curtis, for example.) (via Die Puny Humans)

There are 5 comments on "The handyman can":

Posted by: mark http://donotuselifts.net/ Tue Apr 6 01:34:38 2004

Well, of course he's cheerful. He just built a fully-functioning guillotine, for crying out loud! That's a very cool achievement!

('Course, committing suicide *isn't*...)

Posted by: dj http://deej.bah.id.au Tue Apr 6 03:41:27 2004

Did he have someone sitting there knitting while he did it?

Posted by: Graham http://grudnuk.com/ Tue Apr 6 14:39:57 2004

Pity he'll never get the opportunity to bask in the glow of a job well done.

Posted by: DCRamsey DCRamsey@yahoo.com Fri Apr 24 06:22:45 2009

It would have been more apropriate for Brunie to seek help for depression. That would have been better than commiting suicide by beheading himself with the guillotine which he had built. Regardless of what problems you may face, suicide is never the correct solution. Also, it would have been better had he not built the deadly device at all. My heart gos out his entire family and relatives because it was such a wasteful loss of life.

Posted by: HIS NIECE. Thu Jan 20 18:55:02 2022

I am now 20 years old. My uncle took it upon hiself to take himself away from us & the world because he simply could not take any more. DEPRESSION is REAL. So for YOU to comment it was such a waste of life is so disrespectful I’m shaking while writing this. And to the person who said ‘was somebody knitting while he was making the guillotine’ NO. Nobody was with him, as my dad and the rest of my family believed him when he said he was fine, but that’s what depression does to you, you know your not fine you know your about to go off the edge but when the people that love you the most ask about you, you HAVE to put that fake smile on your face and tell them your okay, because believe it or not Kevin loved every single person in his family & friends he just hated the world we live in. So don’t ever speak about my uncle and what he decided on when you NEVER knew him.