I think this guy's thoughts basically ran: "I need to get rid of this computer. I PARTICULARLY need to get rid of the data".
I can remember at least two quite hi-profile cases offhand where smart people were just as stupid as this. One was a hacker who had caused damage for rather a staggering amount, who just dumped his whole machine in the trash by his apartment building. The other was a guy who ripped out his harddrive and buried it in the snow. None of them had much luck ;).