US prisoner plucks out his eye, eats it

A US death row inmate with a history of mental problems pulled out his only good eye and told authorities he ate it.

deranged: Andre Thomas, who has a history of mental problems, killed his estranged wife and their two children by ripping out their hearts. pic/ap

A US death row inmate with a history of mental problems pulled out his only good eye and told authorities he ate it.

Andre Thomas (25) was arrested for the fatal stabbings of his estranged wife, their young son and her 13-month-old daughter in March 2004. Their hearts also had been ripped out. He was convicted and condemned for the infant's death.

Mentally ill

While in jail in the city of Sherman, Thomas plucked out his right eye before his trial later in 2004. A judge subsequently ruled he was competent to stand trial.

A death-row officer at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice found Thomas in his cell with blood on his face and took him to the infirmary.

"Thomas said he pulled out his eye and subsequently ingested it," agency spokesman Jason Clark said last week.

Thomas was treated after the December 9 incident. "He will finally be able to receive the mental health care that we had wanted and begged for from day 1," said his attorney Bobbie Peterson-Cate. "He is insane and mentally ill. It is exactly the same reason he pulled out the last one."

At his trial, defence lawyers also argued he suffered from alcohol and drug abuse. Thomas does not have an execution date.

Ripping out hearts

After he killed his family in 2004, Thomas walked into the police station and told a dispatcher he had just murdered the three and had stabbed himself in the chest.

Thomas told police how he put his victims' hearts in his pocket and left their apartment, took them home, put them in a plastic bag and threw them in the trash.