BACOLOD CITY , Philippines – Four minors aged nine to 14 and a 21-year-old man were arrested for the fatal beating of a six-year-old kindergarten pupil while they were high on solvent last Thursday in Talisay City, Negros Occidental.
Chief Inspector Joeresty Coronica, Talisay police chief, said two of the minors, both boys aged nine and 14, were collared a few hours after the crime, while the two other minors, a boy and a girl both aged 11, and Raffy Hinolan, 21, fell Thursday night.
The suspects were reportedly sniffing “pedseal,†a solvent, in a vacant lot in Barangay Zone 12 and chanced upon the victim who they beat up to death.
The first two minors tagged in the crime were arrested by concerned citizens and turned over to the Talisay City police and the Balay Pasilungan of the city social welfare office, according to social worker Othela Clavecillas.
Coronica said the two other minors were nabbed in their houses while Hinolan was arrested when police spotted him alighting from a bus.
Investigation showed that the victim went out of his house at around 2 p.m. last Thursday to answer the call of nature. When he did not return after almost an hour, his mother told her other children to look for him, Coronica said.
The victim’s two siblings found his bloodied body in a vacant lot near their house. The boy, who had several wounds in the head and face, was rushed to the City Health Clinic but was declared dead on arrival, Coronica said.
Hinolan, according to Coronica, hit the victim several times with a piece of wood, while the female suspect gagged his mouth with a plastic bag, and another minor tied him up.
The first two minors arrested denied any role in the killing and would stand as witnesses against the three others.
Police are readying homicide charges against Hinolan and the two 11-year-old suspects.