MANILA, Philippines - A man repeatedly stabbed his seven-year-old daughter, took a photo of the girl’s lifeless body and then used it as his “profile picture†on his Facebook account.
Mark Alvin Manliclic, 31, readily admitted to the crime after killing Angel Mark Cathlene at their house in Barangay Sta. Lucia, Quezon City yesterday morning.
However, Manliclic claimed he was not aware that he had stabbed his daughter, said Inspector Elmer Monsalve, head of the Homicide Investigation Section of the Quezon City Police District.
“It was as if he blacked out and only realized he was doing a crime when he saw blood on his hands and on his daughter’s body,†Monsalve said in an interview.
Long-distance spat
The streak of violence was apparently prompted by his desire for his wife, a migrant worker, to come home. Manliclic is jobless.
The killing happened after Manliclic had a spat with his wife, who works as a butcher at a meat shop in Canada.
The wife left to work in Canada on May 3 and it appeared Manliclic was against it, Monsalve said.
He said the suspect was talking with his wife through online chat the night before the killing. He was then asking his wife to come back home.
However, the wife stopped responding.
This apparently irked Manliclic, who sent this chilling warning: “Matulog ka na. Kapag hindi ka umuwi, papatayin ko ang anak mo (Sleep. If you don’t come home, I will kill your child).â€
Attacked while sleeping
Monsalve suspects Manliclic repeatedly stabbed his daughter with a kitchen knife while she was asleep. Father and daughter were the only ones living in the house.
He said a neighbor claimed having heard cries from the house. “It could have been the child crying in pain as her father started stabbing her,†Monsalve said.
Police officers found a bloodstained kitchen knife in the house, he added.
Monsalve said Manliclic went to the house of an aunt nearby at around 3 a.m. and told her he had killed his daughter.
Monsalve said the picture of the child, her bloody body riddled with stab wounds, was still on Manliclic’s Facebook account, seen on his desktop computer when police officers arrived at his house.
The image has since been deleted and replaced by the suspect’s photo. It was not clear who changed the profile picture.
Manliclic also sent messages to his mother and wife online, telling them he had killed the child. Manliclic’s mother is in the United States.
It took hours before Manliclic spoke to policemen. When he finally talked, he kept crying as he aired his side, having realized he had just killed his own child, Monsalve said.
Manliclic – who is facing charges of parricide – told police he was not in his right mind when he repeatedly stabbed his daughter. It was not clear whether he was intoxicated or on drugs, according to Monsalve.