Mother stabs daughter, 5, inside church during Mass

CEBU CITY, Philippines – Merlyn Abao, 29, went to hear early morning Mass at the National Shrine of St. Joseph in Mandaue City with her five-year-old daughter.

While the officiating priest, Fr. Benjamin Cortes, was delivering his homily, Abao suddenly burst into anger, screamed and stabbed her daughter with a broken bottle at least four times.

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The two were seated on the front row, facing the national shrine’s altar, while they heard the 4:30 a.m. Mass.

The girl sustained stab wounds on her chest and arms, police said.

Churchgoers came to the girl’s rescue and stopped Abao from further inflicting harm on the child.

Church volunteers brought the girl to the Mandaue City District Hospital some 300 meters away from the national shrine for treatment.

She was later transferred to the Don Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (DVSMMC) in Cebu City.

PO1 Juliet Trogo of the Women’s Desk of Police Station 1, said the church security guard took custody of Abao while they called for police assistance.

Abao was later turned over to the DVSMMC psychiatric ward while police locate her common-law-husband who works as a baker in the nearby Barangay Centro.

Abao, a native of Bohol, lives in Barangay Cambaro located about a kilometer away from the national shrine with her common-law husband, the girl’s stepfather.