House maid surrenders after killing lover in QC

A 23-year-old housemaid in Quezon City surrendered to the police about an hour after she was seen shooting and killing her lover on Tuesday night.

Cherry Pie Aspa is facing a murder charge for the death of Eric Mella, 33, a resident of Calderon Street, Barangay Sta. Lucia. Aspa was employed as a stay-in helper in one of the houses in front of the victim’s home.

In an interview on Wednesday, Mella’s cousin, Mikhael Medilla, said he was walking home when he saw Aspa and Mella talking on T. Alonzo Street around 9 p.m. Tuesday. Moments later, Medilla heard a gunshot and saw his cousin clutching his bleeding chest.

As Aspa ran away, Medilla rushed to help Mella but the victim could no longer talk and died on the spot.

Around 10 p.m. that night, Aspa surrendered to a police officer in Barangay Greater Fairview, turning over an unlicensed .22-caliber revolver still loaded with three bullets, a plastic bag containing dried marijuana, and a smoking pipe.

It was not immediately clear why Aspa shot the victim and how she got hold of a pistol and a bag of marijuana.

Senior Insp. Elmer Monsalve, homicide section chief of the Quezon City Police District, said Aspa refused to talk to investigators at press time, except to say that she and Mella, a sound technician who also once worked as a houseboy, were lovers.

Aspa also refused to be interviewed while detained at the QCPD headquarters in Camp Karingal.

Medilla said the victim used to be a drug user and had earlier relationships with several women, two of whom bore him children. Nikka G. Valenzuela