An unusual case of suicide by stabbing with a falling weighted dagger

An unusual suicide by self-stabbing is presented. A 42-year-old man committ ed suicide with a dagger weighted with 2.72 kg in total and allowed to fall freely. The blade of the dagger fell from a height of 10 cm above the ches t, penetrated the second left intercostal skin and pierced the upper lobe o f the left lung. However, the weapon did not penetrate the chest skin from a stationary position in our trial at the autopsy. This finding confirms th e results of experiments with stab wound dynamics which demonstrated that t he impact velocity of the weapon as well as the sharpness of the tip is imp ortant for skin penetration. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rig hts reserved.