A man in Ghana reportedly “chopped off” his own penis on August 12 while he was “half-asleep.”
The man, 42-year-old Kofi Atta, said he’d been dreaming about “slaughtering a goat” when he awoke to “sharp pains” in his scrotum, The Independent reported. When he looked down, he realized that “through some form of sleepwalking,” he’d picked up a knife and “chopped off” his genitalia, though he doesn’t remember doing any of this, PopCulture said.
“I no remember how I carry de knife, even me I dey confused,” Atta told BBC Pidgin.
Sleepwalking
Sadly, Atta isn’t the first adult to injure himself as a result of sleepwalking.
According to Sleepwalking.org, up to 4 percent of adults are thought to experience sleepwalking, and episodes can last anywhere from a few seconds to half an hour. And despite its name, “sleepwalking is not limited to walking.”
“Other types of actions can occur and are still under the umbrella of sleepwalking. Examples include running, routine actions like getting dressed, moving furniture, engaging in sexual behavior (sexsomnia), or urinating in inappropriate places,” the website said.
The American Academies of Sleep Medicine (AASM) also found that 58 percent of sleepwalkers have experienced “violent” behavior during an episode, “including 17 percent who experienced at least one episode involving injuries to the sleepwalker or bed partner that required medical care.”
For this reason, Dr. Yves Dauvilliers, director of the sleep lab at Gui-de-Chauliac Hospital in Montpellier, France, told AASM that “the consequences and dangers of sleepwalking episodes should not be ignored.”
Atta’s Accident
Atta’s wife, Adwoa Konadu, wasn’t home at the time of his accident, so their neighbors called her on Atta’s behalf.
“[Konadu received] a distressed call from a neighbor, explaining that her husband was ‘bleeding profusely’ as he has cut off his manhood with a sharp knife,” LadBible said.
Konadu rushed home and found her husband “sitting on a chamber pot full of blood, with his penis in his hand,” LadBible continued. To prevent Atta from “losing his manhood,” Konadu handed her husband a diaper and then took him to a nearby hospital for treatment.
According to multiple reports, Atta suffered critical injuries from the accident, but they are not thought to be life-threatening. He is currently raising funds to receive surgery at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Ghana.
