American wife-beater arrested

An American was arrested yesterday by the Bureau of Immigration on a complaint of beating up both his Filipino mother-in-law and his wife.

Immigration Commissioner Andrea Domingo identified the American as James O’Brien, 44, who was arrested after his mother-in-law and wife asked the bureau to arrest him for being an undesirable alien.

Remedios Villanueva, 46, claimed in her complaint filed with the Parañaque prosecutor’s office that her son-in-law tried to stab her after hitting her face with a hard object which caused her to fall and lose consciousness.

She also said that when she regained consciousness, she ran out of the house, but O’Brien chased her with a knife until she managed to enter a neighbor’s house.

Villanueva claimed that she was contacting the police over the phone after seeing that her daughter, Cristina O’Brien, was being mauled inside their home when she was attacked.

In her written complaint to the BI, Ms. O’Brien complained that she had been experiencing "nightmares" from the time she married the American ten years ago because of the latter’s "violent character." – Rey Arquiza