For calling him a thief and calling his mother names, a 12-year-old boy stabbed his 18-year-old neighbor in the back last Saturday in sitio Sugporon, barangay Suba-Basbas, Lapu-Lapu City.
Ariel Pumupula, a houseboy, was brought to the hospital for treatment of punctured lungs.
Witnesses told police that the boy scaled the neighbor’s fence to get to Pumupula who was about to leave the house to enrol in a vocational cooking course.
Some residents said the bad blood between Pumupula and the boy’s mother started a few days ago when she suspected that her husband was a having a relationship with Pumupula.
Since then, the mother would often argue with the houseboy.
“They would fight and scream at each other almost every afternoon. She’d tell her son: ‘When you see him (Pumupula), kill him. You won’t go to jail anyway,” a neighbor said.
After the attack, the boy and his parents were brought to the Maribago police station. The boy was later turned over to the Department of Social Welfare and Development in Lapu-Lapu City.
After a two-hour assessment session, the boy was returned to his parents.
Under Republic Act 9344, also known as the Juvenile and Justice Welfare Act of 2006, children 15 years old or younger are exempt from criminal liability.
The young offender must be released to the custody of parents or his or her guardian, unless the DSWD intervenes in the best interest of the child.
June Andales, social welfare assistant, said that if the wounded houseboy would file a case against the mother, she would call the mother and child back.
Andales said if someone could testify that the mother ordered her son to attack the houseboy, a complaint could be filed against her.
But the mother denied the witnesses’ allegations.
Her son said he attacked Pumupula because he was angry that the housboy called him a thief, and cursed his mother.