Mother of 5 stabbed dead in Cebu home robbery
CEBU CITY, Philippines — A 40-year-old mother of five children was killed after she was stabbed 23 times by one of the burglars who broke into her house about 1 a.m. on Sunday in Barangay (village) Buanoy, Balamban town, about 48 kilometers west of this city.
Cesar Carmelotes, a neighbor, was later arrested by the police in a hot pursuit operation after he was identified by the daughter of Jonalyn Abendan as the one who stabbed her mother.
He denied the allegations, saying he could not have robbed and stabbed Abendan since he was drunk after attending a fiesta celebration on Saturday night.
The victim’s husband, Vitallano Abendan Jr., is working in Australia and has been informed about the murder, according to the police.
Police investigation said Abendan and her six-year-old daughter were sleeping in the living room when two men entered the house through the sari-sari (general merchandise) store at the back of the house.
The door that led to the house from the store was left open on Saturday night.
The police said the suspects were tying up Abendan when her 14-year-old daughter went to check on the noise in the living room.
She too was tied by the burglars.
Abendan and her daughter were brought to the comfort room, leaving the 6-year-old daughter still sleeping in the living room. The two other children aged 13, 12 and 9 were sleeping in another room.
One of the burglars kept watch over the two victims while the other ransacked the house.
While inside the comfort room, Abendan realized that she knew the burglar – Carmelotes who lived a few meters away from their house.
She started to berate Carmelotes and told him that she knew them. The suspect allegedly became irritated and started stabbing Abendan in front of her daughter.
The two burglars then escaped with several pieces of jewelry, laptop computers, tablets and cellular phones, among others.
The girl was able to untie herself and sought for help. The Department of Social Welfare and Development later took custody of the children.
Melissa Curay, the family’s helper, said there were instances that the backdoor was not locked especially when the six-year-old daughter, a special child, played around the house before going to sleep.
Curay was not in the house when the robbery happened because she was in the hospital attending to her sick mother.
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