MANILA, Philippines - A 19-year-old man killed on Friday a second-degree cousin he impregnated to avoid getting killed by her father.
“She told me that if her father found out, he would stab me to death, so I killed her,†said Romnick Joseph Alon of North Harbor in Manila.
Alon was arrested by barangay watchmen on Good Friday for slitting the throat of Junesa Rusco, 18, while they were talking at a playground in Parola Compound at about 8:30 p.m.
Rusco and her cousins Ronelyn Pecargo and Rosalyn Alon, 20, were walking in their neighborhood to get some fresh air when they chanced upon Alon.
Alon said he asked if he could talk to Rusco in private, to which their cousins acceded.
The couple were sitting on a cement slide when Rusco told him about her fears: that she was pregnant and her father might kill Alon if he finds out that they were together.
This enraged Alon as he could not understand how Rusco could get pregnant when they only had sex two weeks ago.
Alon said he slit Rusco’s throat, changed his shirt and left. A little later, Ronelyn saw him walking away from the playground all by himself.
She and Rosalyn looked for Rusco and saw the latter bloodied. They told police they were initially paralyzed by fear and shock, but when they heard Rusco asking for help, Rosalyn rushed to the barangay hall.
Barangay watchmen asked for help from the police, who in turn arrested Alon. During their search around the neighborhood, the police recovered the knife he used, wrapped in his bloodied shirt.