QC ‘teen’ kills aunt who raised him—over ‘video karera’

MANILA, Philippines—A “teenager” in Quezon City is now in police custody with a wounded hand and a chilling confession: He slit the throat of the only relative who had sheltered him since childhood.

The Quezon City Police District said the man, whose claim that he is only 17-years-old is still subject to verification, had admitted killing his aunt, Joana Suazo, 36, at their home on Araneta Street, Sitio Mendez in Barangay Baesa, after she scolded him for wasting money on “video karera” machines.

The QCPD’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit (CIDU) said the killing happened around 9 a.m. after the man returned home from hours of betting in the virtual horse race and encountered a fuming Suazo.

Speaking to reporters at the CIDU office, the man said he lost his temper when his aunt gave him a tongue-lashing for gambling away what little money he had.

According to homicide section Chief Insp. Elmer Monsalve, the victim had been the man’s sole guardian for the past seven years after he was abandoned by his parents. Both aunt and nephew worked at a donut shop in the neighborhood, along with her live-in partner Fernando Perez, 38.

The man admitted to the police that, in his anger, he took a kitchen knife and stabbed Suazo in the neck. As she kept struggling, he grabbed her again and slashed her throat.

The man cut his own hand in the commotion and was wrapping it with a piece of cloth when Perez walked in and found Suazo dead.

Perez rushed out to seek help from barangay watchmen and had the man arrested. Monsalve said he made no attempt to escape.

The man claimed that he was only 17 years old, but Monsalve said criminal charges would still be filed against him ‘’unless he produces his birth certificate and other papers” proving his age.

The verification might also take long since the man had killed the only known relative that could prove he’s still underaged, the QCPD official added.