Man charged with killing vagrant, mutilating corpse

MURDER charges were filed yesterday in the Pasay City Prosecutor’s Office against a construction worker accused of killing a homeless man, cutting off his sex organ and then stuffing it into his mouth.

When Danilo Malusay, 31, a resident of Lumba Ranao, Muslim Compound in Pasay City, was arrested by the police around 7:30 a.m. the other day, he denied killing Ryan Magbanua, a jobless man who had been living for three months inside a toilet being built just a few meters away from the nearby Grand Muslim Mosque on Roxas Boulevard.

However, barangay officials found blood splatters on a pair of Malusay’s shoes in addition to cuts and bruises on his face. They also told the police that when they walked into his house, he was hurriedly putting his clothes into a bag as if he was about to leave the area.

Just an hour before, a group of children discovered Magbanua’s bloodied body in one of the cubicles of the toilet under construction. He had been stabbed to death while something had been stuffed into his mouth.

Investigators discovered later on that the victim’s sex organ had been cut off and placed inside his mouth.

Upon learning of the victim’s death, two barangay officials, councilor Saipodeng Tago and watchman Mac Mosib, immediately went to Malusay’s house.

They later told investigators that they suspected him of being behind the grisly killing since he and the victim were always arguing, according to witnesses.

“The victim, whenever under the influence of alcohol, would usually bang on the wooden partition of Malusay’s makeshift shanty which [residents] said angered the suspect,” Tago said in his statement to the police. Malusay’s house was just 10 meters away from the toilet.

SPO3 Allan Valdez told the INQUIRER in an interview that when the barangay officials went to the suspect’s house, they found a bloodstained pair of brown leather shoes which Malusay tried to hide.

When asked how he got blood on his shoes, the suspect said he had kicked a dog inside the compound. The officials said they searched the whole compound but found no evidence to back his claim as they saw no sign of an injured dog nor did they receive a complaint from a dog owner.

Following Malusay’s arrest, Valdez said he asked the victim how he got the bruises and cuts on his face. The suspect replied that he was beaten up by residents who thought he was Magbanua’s killer.

The police, however, noted that if his claim was true, his injuries would have been more severe.

Valdez said in a report that despite the absence of a witness, the circumstantial evidence all point to Malusay.

“It is impossible that people from outside the community could have gone inside the [toilet] and kill Magbanua. But it is highly possible that a person residing inside the compound who had a grudge against the victim could have killed him,” he added.