Butcher caught for holding woman hostage
A BUTCHER, who was believed to be drunk, held his neighbor hostage with two knives in Sitio Calipayan, Barangay Punta Engaño, Lapu-Lapu City at 8 p.m. last Tuesday.
Ruel Maloloy-on, 38, was arrested after police negotiated for the release of victim Jessica Llait, 44, for more than an hour.
Police found Maloloy-on pointing the knives at Llait’s neck and stomach.
Senior Insp. Felix Cleopas, chief of Lapu-Lapu Police Station 2, said that the hostage-taking lasted for more than an hour.
Cleopas said the station received a call from one of the residents asking for assistance about the hostage-taking.
Cleopas said his team asked Maloloy-on to release the victim, which the latter ignored.
An hour later, the suspect got exhausted and put down his arms. This gave police the opportunity to grab Maloloy-on and rescue Llait.
In an interview, Maloloy-on said the incident started when he borrowed a motorcycle from one of his neighbors that he used in going to a Lotto outlet to buy tickets.
“When I got home, I was shocked why the motorcycle owner got angry and asked me if the motorcycle was damaged,” he said in Cebuano.
Maloloy-on found out that Maria Brecasio allegedly told stories that the motorcycle was caught in an accident.
Maloloy-on, who was drunk at that time, got irked and threatened Brecasio, according to the police investigation.
Llait reportedly tried to pacify the two persons, but Maloloy-on held her, pulled out the knives kept from his waistband, and held the woman hostage.
Maloloy-on, however, said that Llait uttered some words that made him angry.
Maloloy-on has been detained at the Lapu-Lapu City Police Office detention cell while waiting for the complaints of illegal detention and physical injuries to be filed against him.
Cleopas said that among the evidence to be used in filing the complaints are the two 12-inch knives he allegedly used in the hostage-taking.