BOGO CITY POLICE CAPTURES MINOR WHO KILLED 2 FEMALE RELATIVES

THE 14-year-old boy who stabbed Cerila Abacial Francisco, 62, and her daughter-in-law Mary Ann Latoy Francisco, 39, to death in Bogo City, northern Cebu, has been caught by the police after he returned home as he was hungry.

Bogo City Police Chief Florendo Fajardo told Superbalita Cebu that Jerome (not his real name) admitted to the crime after his arrest on Friday morning, April 29, 2022, three days after the murder happened.

Jerome fled his neighborhood in Barangay Nailon after the crime occurred past midnight on Tuesday, April 26. He entered the house of Cerila, his aunt, to steal as he was reportedly hooked on online games; he stabbed Cerila and Mary Ann to death when the two women were awakened by the noise made by him.

Before the arrest, Jerome had been hiding inside a big rock on the shore in the boundary between Barangays Nailon and Gairan in Bogo City.

The boy returned home to Purok Katambak, Sitio Punta, Nailon to beg for food last Friday morning.

A neighbor informed the police about Jerome’s presence in Katambak, and a team was dispatched to arrest the suspect past 8 a.m.

Jerome has been under Bogo City Police Station’s custody, as the Department of Social Welfare and Development has no facility for children in conflict (CICL) with the law in the city.

Fajardo said Jerome’s mother has insisted the boy is still 14, as he will turn 15 on May 27. To prove her claim, she still has to produce her son’s birth certificate.

Earlier reports stated that Jerome was 15 years old.

A CICL in the Philippines is above 15 but below 18 years old and has been assessed to have acted with discernment in committing an offense.