‘Amok’ charged with frustrated murder, homicide

[wpgmappity id=”913″]

MANILA, Philippines—A 24-year-old vendor, who ran amuck allegedly in frustration over his fruitless search for his wife and supposedly attacked three of his neighbors with a knife on New Year’s Day, was charged with frustrated murder and two counts of frustrated homicide in a Quezon City court.

Three sets of criminal information against Joser Dela Cruz, of Cariñosa Street, Barangay Sta. Monica in Novaliches were filed Tuesday before Judge Madonna Echeverri of Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 81.

Assistant city prosecutor Diovie Calderon recommended a P200,000 bail for the frustrated murder charge and P24,000 each for the two counts of frustrated homicide.

Calderon filed the information against Dela Cruz for his alleged attack on his neighbors—Woody Boy Poray, 33; Carlito Batac, 22; and Albert Bartolome, 23. Poray sustained knife wounds in the abdomen, chest and face. Batac and Bartolome were allegedly assaulted by Dela Cruz when they tried to pacify him. The three men survived the knife attack when they were given timely medical treatment in nearby hospitals.

Based on the information, an argument sparked between Dela Cruz and Poray on New Year’s Eve, when the vendor insisted that his wife was inside Poray’s house along Sarmiento Street in Barangay Sta. Monica and the homeowner denied the accusation.

The next day, at around 1 a.m., Dela Cruz allegedly pounced on Poray with a knife and repeatedly stabbed him. Bystanders who witnessed the assault ganged up on Dela Cruz and started beating him up, prompting Batac and Bartolome to try and stop the mob. However, Dela Cruz allegedly attacked the duo with his knife, hitting them in the body, before fleeing.

Barangay public safety officers later caught up with Dela Cruz at a bus terminal along Quirino Highway in Novaliches, nabbed him before he could board a passenger bus and turned him over to Novaliches policemen.