QC court allows mental check-up for wife who killed husband in mall

MANILA, Philippines – A Quezon City court has allowed the 25-year-old housewife who killed her husband inside a mall months ago, to undergo another check-up at the National Center for Mental Health on Wednesday to see if she can stand trial.

Judge Bayani Vargas of the Regional Trial Court Branch 219 has granted the request of the female dormitory warden, Supt. Milet Batac, to bring Shella Macapugay to the NCMH on Nov. 23 for a follow-up visit.

The housewife is charged with parricide and murder for shooting her estranged husband, Abel Macapugay, inside the SM North Edsa mall in Quezon City, in a fit of rage for his alleged failure to regularly give her child support.

Also killed in the Sept. 13 incident was a mall security guard, Ricardo Inamac III, who tried to stop Macapugay from killing herself after shooting her husband.

In the one-page order, Vargas allowed Batac to bring back the female accused to the NCMH for a follow-up check up as prescribed by her attending doctor.

Macapugay was first brought to the mental health facility on Nov. 16 after she complained that she has been hearing voices, particularly that of her husband’s, causing her to be restless.

Her physician, Dr. Diana Joy Dizon, examined the patient and prescribed medicines to her, and instructed her to come back this Wednesday.

The doctor has yet to submit to the court her findings for the first check-up on the accused.

Batac had asked the court to allow Macapugay to be examined at the NCMH because of her supposed complaints.

A psychologist assigned to the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, JO3 Noel Tabernilla, had submitted a report to the court dated Sept. 27 in which the accused said she was hearing voices in her head.

Batac then asked the court to allow a psychological examination to determine whether the housewife can withstand a rigorous court trial.