Wednesday, July 23, 2008 Police commander's helper kills self in officers' quarters
A 19-year-old housemaid of a police station commander in Cebu City died after she hanged herself inside the comfort room of the PNP Officers’ Quarters across the Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 Headquarters in Camp Sergio Osmeña Sr. past 8 a.m. yesterday.
Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) Patrocinio Comendador said the Homicide Section is conducting further investigation on the incident to determine if the housemaid, identified as Ermiliza Catubay Aba, indeed committed suicide.
The Regional Internal Affairs Service (RIAS) 7 also asked for a copy of the report from the Homicide Section to find out if there is a need for them to look into the matter.
Aba, a 19-year-old resident of sitio Tulay in the mountain barangay of Buot-Taup, Cebu City, worked as house helper of Supt. Glenn Ares and his family.
Ares, who is the Parian Police Station chief, declined to comment on the incident.
Reprimanded
SPO4 Alex Dacua, team leader of the responding homicide investigators, said that last Monday Aba was reprimanded by Ares’ wife, Mary Grace, for dipping her fingers into a jar of peanut butter.
“Nakasab-an kuno niya (Mary Grace) bahin atong peanut butter nga gikinamot. Nagdamdam tingali kay gibadlong (She was scolded. Maybe she felt bad about it),” Dacua said.
Dacua’s team, together with the CCPO Crime Scene Investigation Section, recovered a brown sling made of canvass with hooks on both edges and one nail measuring about 6.3 centimeters long. These were reportedly used by Aba in killing herself.
Prior to the discovery of Aba’s body, she reportedly went inside the comfort room.
Ares and his wife started calling out Aba’s name after the couple noticed that the housemaid failed to come out of the comfort room 30 minutes later.
The couple did not hear a reply from Aba. This prompted the police official to force open the door of the comfort room.
Autopsy
The couple found Aba hanging with the sling tied around her neck, with the other end of the sling connected to the nail in the wall.
Personnel from the Emergency Rescue Unit Foundation rushed Aba to the Cebu City Medical Center.
Dacua and Comendador, in separate interviews, said a request has been submitted to the PNP Crime Laboratory 7 to perform an autopsy on Aba’s body.
The autopsy result, Comendador said, would determine the cause of Aba’s death and if it involved a foul play.
Comendador said he would also confer with Ares to get more details about the incident.
He said the outcome of his meeting with Ares will be the basis for him to decide whether to relieve the police station chief from his post. (JST)
