‘Baby killer’ may walk free; cops say evidence weak

The 24-year-old mother who allegedly beat her one-month-old son to death inside their house in Tondo, Manila the other day could possibly walk free.

This developed after the homicide section of the Western Police District (WPD) admitted that evidence against 24-year-old Racquel Santiago (not Carillo as earlier reported) is weak at the moment.

"What we have right now is purely circumstantial. We even do not even have the blunt instrument she allegedly used in beating her son," said Chief Inspector Juanito Taluban, WPD homicide section chief.

Compounding the problem is the lack of witnesses, police said.

According to detective Norberto Obrero, nobody saw Santiago beat his son Joe Marie Francia.

"What we have is the statement of Leticia Fernandez, a neighbor of the suspect, who claims that she had heard the infant being hit by the suspect," Obrero said.

Taluban said they are pinning their hopes on the result of the autopsy on the infant.

As of press time yesterday, the WPD homicide section was still waiting for the results of the autopsy conducted at the Ilagan Funeral Parlor in Tondo. Taluban said without the autopsy report, they would be forced to release Santiago from custody, citing the 36-hour custodial period.

"In the absence of other pieces of evidence, only the autopsy report can tell us if there was indeed foul play involved in the death of the infant. Nonetheless, we would still be filing a case against Santiago," said Taluban.

Taluban added that they could not force her to undergo a drug test even though there had been strong suspicion that she was "high" after sniffing contact cement when the incident happened.

According to police, Santiago allegedly beat Joe Marie inside their house at 393 Pacheco Street at about 6:45 a.m. because the infant refused to stop crying.

Police said Santiago’s common-law husband Joel Francia, a construction worker, had just returned home when the incident happened.

According to police, the screams of the infant were heard by Fernandez, who rushed to the house with several barangay tanods.

When they arrived, the tanods saw blood oozing from the nose of the infant, They rushed the boy to the Jose Reyes Memorial Medical Center, where he died on arrival.

Police said Raquel was incoherent when she was arrested.

Chief Inspector Juanito Taluban said Racquel’s older son had been previously taken away by the Department of Social Welfare and Development after the boy was also beaten.