What is the worth of a mans scrotum? This is the question that Mr. Toyin Ibitoye has been battling with. After losing all his investments in a business transaction, he attempted suicide by piercing his own scrotum. While the police prepare to charge him to court, his medical doctor describes it is as a psychiatrist case. AKINWALE ABORISADE writes
Ibitoye on his sick bed. Inset: Stone battered head.
For Dauda Abimbola, a night guard at Oke-Offa area of Ibadan, Oyo State, every night comes with a peculiar horror.
But the horror that struck in the wee hours of Sunday, August 5, 2010 was such that kept him brooding all day long. This is because of the absurd manner in which it came.
It was night as usual in the area. At 12:30 a.m. the rustic city had gone to sleep. Baba Isale area of Oke-Offa was calm and still, with no humans on the street but for the guard on patrol. Only the intermittent chirping of birds and crickets intruded the tranquillity of the night-time. Suddenly, a long, painful groan rent the air. Abimbola cautiously walked down to the direction of the noise. A huge figure (a man) was lying helplessly on the floor, writhing in pain in the pool of his blood.
Could it have been a gunshot or a knife stab? The stranger was soaked from the buttocks down to his feet. Toyin Ibitoye was obviously not calling for help; rather, he was only groaning as a result of the excruciating pain.
Abimbola made a distress call to the police. Soon after, a patrol team came to convey the agonising young man to a hospital in the neighbourhood. There, the doctor confirmed that the young man was actually on a suicide mission. He had inflicted some injuries on himself, using every object that came his way.
Ibitoye said, "I attempted to take my own life by throwing up huge stones that landed on my head." As each stone landed on his clean shaven head, it left a deep sore on it. But not done with that, Ibitoye broke a bottle, stripped himself naked and pierced his scrotum with it. He forcefully removed the two testes in a manner that caused him much agony that made him to cry and quiver.
Police investigation however revealed that this is not the first time Ibitoye would be making an attempt to take his own life.
Weary and utterly disappointed as a result of a business deal turned sour while living in Lagos, the embattled man was said to have made several attempts on his own life. He had lost his life savings, with barely nothing left. He also lost his customers�� monies in the failed oil business.
To him, all hope was lost. And the only way out, he opined, was to end it all by committing suicide. He had, ever since, been trying to kill himself; but it had been unsuccessful. Worried by Ibitoye��s dangerous behaviour, his parents relocated him to their base in Ibadan so that he could be under their close watch. But, the huge burden in his heart outweighed what parental love could cure. He continued to look for a way out.
The last attempt he made in a desperate quest for death was in the early hours of Sunday when everybody was fast asleep and no one could interrupt him. Again, he did not succeed. Rather than lose his life, he only lost his testes. He presently nurses a festering sore between his legs on the hospital bed. He said, "After removing my testes, I threw them away somewhere at Ode-Aje (area of Ibadan)." When SUNDAY PUNCH visited Bembow Hospital, Ibadan, where he was receiving treatment, Ibitoye was writhing in pain, with swollen scrotum. He painfully recalled the desperate action he took in an attempt to kill himself in order to be ��free from life��s challenges,�� saying, "I pierced my scrotum with broken bottle and forcefully removed my testes."
Four hours after committing the dastardly act, Ibitoye was wheeled into the theatre at Bembow Hospital. He underwent a four-hour surgical operation, and though he came out alive, he was still in a depressed mood. His grief was not just as a result of the pain he went through, but especially because of his failed efforts to end his own life.
Now, he lies on the hospital bed almost half-minded. His words are incoherent: This minute, he will reflect on his ordeal; the next, he will bring up a topic that is totally unrelated to what he said earlier, especially when attempting to answer questions posed to him.
While responding to questions from our correspondent, he said he attempted suicide but he did not explain what led him to it. He said, "I jumped into the well, but they brought me out. I did many things but death would not come. It was painful but they treated me and the pain has reduced."
His father, a native of Ajase-Ipo, Kwara State, told the police that Ibitoye had a failed deal with some of his business partners in Lagos. According to the old man (name not given), his son��s capital (amount not mentioned) and his customers�� money were involved in the business.
The Police Public Relations Officer, Oyo State Command, Ms. Olabisi Okuwobi, said the man��s action was criminal and the act was typical of a man who is incapable of facing the challenges of life.
The Divisional Crime Officer 1, Agugu Police Station, Ibadan, Mr. Ayoola Olawole, who noted that the man had the tendency to attempt to take his own life again after recuperating, said the suspect would be charged to court. He explained that there was no basis for anybody to make an attempt on his own life or that of others, irrespective of the circumstances; as such actions are against the law.
The Medical Director, Bembow Hospital, Dr. Abimbola Kuteyi, who explained the procedure carried out on Ibitoye said, "We did surgery on the two sides of the scrotum, though he pierced himself on just one (right) side. He caused harm to the sperm duct. In medical term, we carried out bilateral orchiectomy �� repair of sperm duct."
According to Kuteyi, Ibitoye can still have sex but can no longer make babies. If the session was not carried out on him, the doctor said, he might bleed to death. He explained that the patient suffered secondary inflammation of the scrotum because of the unsterilised broken bottle he used to pierce it.
The doctor, who said that not less than 20 per cent of the world population had one psychiatric problem or the other, said Ibitoye obviously had psychiatric problem. Kuteyi said, "In my diagnosis, I indicated that there was a stressor that gingered the psychiatric action in him. The patient still behaves irrationally and cannot easily identify people now.
"What happened in his case was as a result of depression. He suffered what we call loss of mood and self respect. He is fed up with the environment, so he wants to commit suicide. This is, however, treatable with anti-depressant."
Will it then be right to charge Ibitoye to court, being a mentally unbalanced and traumatised individual? The doctor said no; while the law enforcement agents have a different perception.
