Teen watches aunt hack her mom to death

CAMP BADO DANGWA, La Trinidad, Benguet – A 12-year-old Grade 6 pupil witnessed her adopted mother hacked to death by her aunt in front of the television for reason not yet determined by the police at dawn yesterday in Pidigan, Abra.

The incident in Barangay Alinaya was reported by a concerned citizen to police authorities of Pidigan Municipal Police Station.

Police identified the victim as Rosita Bandiez, 60 years old, married and a housekeeper and the suspect being her own elder sister identified as Gertrudiz Elpa, 70, a widow and resident of the same area.

Responding police to the crime scene disclosed that the victim and the suspect as well as the victim’s adopted daughter, identified as May De Costa, were all watching the television when the suspect attacked the victim with a machete, and started hacking her in the head several times.

The reason for the attack could not yet be determined by the police, as the lone witness was still in shock, authorities said.

Police found the lifeless body of the victim lying in the dining area, with the hack wounds determined by the Scene of the Crime Operatives (SOCO) of the Abra Provincial Crime Laboratory Office as the cause of her death.

The suspect is now under the custody of the Pidigan MPS for documentation prior to filing of the appropriate charges against her.