There are right ways and wrong ways to handle financial problems.

Portuguese businessman Orico Silva chose the latter route when his in-court financial dispute ended in bloodshed. Silva, who owns a 50-acre farm in the town of Figueira da Foz, was sued by a title company for holding onto a cash deposit on a land deal that had fallen through.

When Silva refused to pay off his $217,000 debt, a judge declared that part of his farm needed to be sold. That’s when Silva removed a butcher’s knife from his briefcase and cut off one of his fingers.

“My intention was to tear up all the case papers and splatter them with blood so I could prevent the expropriation order for my land,” Silva was quoted as saying. After shocking the judge and lawyers, he proceeded to cut his severed finger into three pieces to further protest the sale.

“I didn’t feel anything, I could even have cut off all my fingers,” said Silva. “It was an act of despair.”

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Tags: Court, Deposit, Financial problems, Judge, Settling debt