Cannibalism, An Act Of Psychiatric Problem?

Nicolas Cocaign ate part of his cellmate's lung

The shaved head, bearded and face covered in tattoos, French prisoner, 39-year-old Nicolas Cocaign, was in custody awaiting trial for attempted armed robbery.

In a gruesome prison incident, Nicolas Cocaign and Thierry Baudry had a fight when Cocaign asked Baudry to wash his hands after he had used the toilet during the night of Jan. 2, 2007.
He was angry about the way Baudry kept blocking the toilet they shared with paper, confronted him and was met with a "dirty look which was very aggressive".
The two started fighting, with Cocaign punching and kicking Baudry at least a dozen times in the face and stomach, before stabbing him with a pair of scissors and then suffocating him with a rubbish bag.
He killed his cellmate.
Then, Cocaign then sliced open Baudry's chest with a razor blade, removed a rib and pulled out an organ which he believed was the man's heart, but the man allegedly removed the wrong organ and devoured his lung by mistake.
He ate part of the raw lung and liked what he did. He then fried the rest of it with some onions, olive oil, salt and pepper on a portable camping stove which the prisoners are to use in cells of the Rouen prison.

Under interrogation before the trial, Cocaign said he had turned cannibal because he wanted to take the victim's soul, as was quoted by The Daily Mail.

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Born in 1971, Nicolas Cocaign  was abandoned by his 21-year-old homeless mother and cared for by the state until he was adopted aged 3.

From the age of 6, he was already under the care of a psychologist.
His childhood report suggested he had difficulty telling right from wrong and his mental difficulties worsened when he was allegedly raped at the age of 13. From then on, he developed 'violent sexual compulsions.

He told the court on Monday of his stressed troubled background and mental instability.
Aware of his impulses, Cocaign had requested psychiatric help in 1998 and asked to be placed in isolation in 2006. He made several appeals for help, saying he was a man capable of being dangerous. No one was listening to him. The authorities ignored appeals for psychological assistance. There was the "failure of the psychiatric, penitentiary and social system".

He had a long history of mental problems even before he sliced open his victim. He has to take action for the authority to take him seriously - Acts of cannibalism while the victim was still alive. Cocaign addressed the family of the victims saying should they accept his apology, he wanted to excuse himself before the Baudry family.

Thursday verdict that he will have to serve at least 20 years of his 30 year sentence. The 39-year-old may benefit from early release after psychiatric treatment and good behavior as prosecutor did not seek a life sentence because the defendant was mentally unstable. It is exceptional to see a psychologically disturbed person say he has to be treated.

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The entire barbaric incident was witnessed by a third cellmate, David Lagrue, 36, who had initially tried to separate Cocaign and Baudry when they started fighting.
Lagrue was so traumatised by what happened that he ended up committing suicide in another prison in November 2009.

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In southwest China, Wang Chaoxu, of Qixian village in Yunnan, believer of an old wives' tale that eating a child's brain could cure fits.

He killed Li Xueetang, an 11-year-old boy and ate his brain in order to cure his epilepsy. The Sun reported that the top of his head was peeled back and part of his brain removed.



Mother of the boy 

Heartbroken mum Yu Chaohu became anxious when her son disappeared late at night.

It was getting dark and she could not find his son anywhere in the village. She even asked the village head to broadcast on the radio to ask her son to return home for dinner.

A few hours later Li was found, after a villager Zhang Huansheng saw a man kneeling over him, and holding him by the neck. The boy's mum was desperate to see her son but was told the body was too badly damaged. She has nightmares thinking about what had happened to her son.

Li Xuetang was found buried three miles away in a grain field in a neighbouring village

Wang Wenzhong, the village leader, found two blood stained rocks in the field and some fractured bones, before the boy's body was discovered buried nearby.
Police said the boy, Li Xuetang, was found buried nearly 5km away in a grain field in a neighbouring village.

Wang Chaoxu was arrested and told police he believed eating the brain with earthworms and ants would cure his illness. He was married to a nurse, but she left him because his illness meant he was unable to work.

A 3-year-old girl, who was reported missing and found dead in public toilets with a knife cut to her head on the same day, may also be one of his victims. Police are investigating whether the cases are linked.