Mentally disturbed man beheads cousin over petty argument

INQUIRER.net stock image

ORMOC CITY—A man suspected to be mentally deranged cut off the head of his cousin following an altercation over a cellular phone inside the victim’s house on Wednesday at Purok Calachuche, Barangay Dongon in Maasin City, Southern Leyte.

Supt. Alex Dang-Aoen, Maasin police chief, identified the victim as Alfie Basa, 32, and a resident of Dongon,

The suspect, Joel Fernandez, was detained at the Maasin City detention cell, after allegedly committing the crime at about 9:15 a.m. after having a heated argument with Basa.

Dang-Aoen said in a phone interview that the cousins had an altercation because Basa refused to let Fernandez borrow his cellular phone since he was still using it.

In a fit of anger, Fernandez went inside the house of the victim, took a bolo from the kitchen and hacked the victim several times, killing him instantly.

Not contended, Dang-Aoen said Fernandez decapitated the victim and placed the head inside the sack before driving his motorcycle to head home where he buried the sack.

Dang-Aoen said relatives of the suspect and the victim told him that Fernandez started to act strange after joining a cult. /jpv