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Thursday, March 04, 2004
Inmate stabs dead another detainee
By Allen S. Terencio
AN INMATE of the General Santos City Reformatory Center in Lanton, Apopong was stabbed dead by fellow inmate Tuesday evening, just weeks after jail guards seized almost a half sack of improvised weapons.
Inmate Ricky Tador died with several stab wounds and was declared dead on arrival at the hospital. He served jail time for multiple murder charges.
City jail warden Eduardo Dimamay identified the assailant as Santiago Yu Jr., a jail inmate for over a year.
Dimamay said the suspect and the victim were confined together with eight other inmates in a restricted cell.
He said the restricted cell is a temporary detention center for erring inmates who are confined for a minimum of 15 days for offense committed inside the jail compound.
The jail warden said Yu declined to say why he stabbed Tador with an ice pick.
Attending physicians, who declared the victim dead on arrival, said Tador also had a stab wound between his eyes.
Dimamay said he received information Tador was threatening newcomers inside the restricted cell.
Tador was reportedly acting as the "mayor" or head of the restricted cell.
He also revealed that some inmates allegedly overheard the victim as saying to Yu, "Ipatong ta ka sa akong kaso (I will add you to the list of my cases)."
As to the improvised ice pick used by Yu in stabbing Tador, Dimamay said it was actually a weapon made by Tador three or four days ago, according to information he gathered from inmates inside the restricted cell.
The weapon, according to Dimamay, was made from the iron handle of the pail used for watering vegetables in the garden. Dimamay explained the inmates are given livelihood projects, such as gardening.
He added that about two weeks ago, they conducted a surprise inspection in the cells and confiscated almost a half sack of assorted improvised weapons.
Yu was confined in the restricted cell on the day of the incident, while Tador had already spent eight months in the cell due to habitual offenses against co-inmates.
The city jail warden has now prohibited pails with iron handles in the prison cells to avoid similar incident.
He disclosed further that the Makar police sub-station, which has jurisdiction over Barangay Apopong, would also conduct separate investigation on the incident.
(March 4, 2004 issue)
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