Man kills himself with 'suicide robot'

Deathbot a veritable suicide machine

A despondent 81-year old man, Francis Peter Tovey, designed, constructed, programmed—and used—a suicide robot to kill himself.

Tovey, who moved to the Australian Gold Coast from England, lived by himself.

His lifeless body was discovered lying on his driveway by neighbors.

Series of suicide notes found

A series of suicide notes found by police revealed the meticulous plan concocted by the desperately depressed man. The notes disclosed that Tovey was upset over demands made upon him by family members in Australia that he leave his home and enter assisted-living care.

Tovey had decided to end it all, but being a creative fellow he rejected all the usual methods of suicide: gas, pills, hanging, a gun, or throwing himself off a bridge.

Instead he chose to commit suicide by deathbot.

Crazy death planned weeks in advance

Mechanized death

Imagine for a moment the obsessive thoughts that drove the pitiful man onwards as he methodically researched robot designs-a robot that would act as his executioner. Consider his deliberations over how exactly his mechanical man would accomplish the terminal event.

After digging deeply into the Internet for schematics that could be modified for his deadly purpose, Tovey constructed the diabolical machine. He jury-rigged some of it using—among other things—a converted power jigsaw rigged to fire a .22 semi-automatic handgun. According to police reports four bullets had been loaded into the magazine.

.22 caliber semi-automatic death weapon

The police believe that Tovey tested the robot with a dry run before committing suicide. When all was ready, he moved the killer robot onto the driveway of his $700,000 home and set the events into motion that would end his life.

Entire article here.

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