Brod’s life for a fake brandy!

A 30-year-old security guard stabbed dead his own brother the other day in front of their house in Quezon City after learning that they were drinking an imitation brandy.

Victim Jim Ballinas, 27, of 16 Area 6, Luzon Avenue, Quezon City, sustained stab wounds in the body and was pronounced dead on arrival at a nearby hospital.

His brother, Privado Ballinas, also of the same address, was arrested by responding policemen and is now detained at the Central Police District headquarters as he awaits proper charges to be filed.

Initial investigations showed that the incident occurred at about 2:30 p.m. Monday right outside the brothers’ house in Luzon Avenue while the two were enjoying a bottle of brandy.

The older Ballinas, at one point, said that the brandy the victim bought did not taste like the original. When Jim confessed that he indeed bought an imitation drink to save money, the suspect flew into a range and a heated argument ensued.

The assailant then pulled out a bladed weapon and without warning, repeatedly stabbed his brother on the chest. The victim collapsed on the ground, as his elder brother merely walked back inside the house.

"Maybe he did not realize what he had just done. It is puzzling that a suspect would not escape after something like that," PO2 Steve Esteves, investigator-on-case, said.– Matthew Estabillo