BY GLENDA SOLOGASTOA
ILOILO – A 35-year-old man with a nervous breakdown beheaded his mother using a bolo in Brgy. Bonbon, Lambunao here.
Alendry Leterato had been acting strangely since returning home in 2012 from Saudi Arabia where he had been working as an air-conditioner technician for three years, police said.
The victim was 65-year-old Erlinda Leterato. Her body was found some 10 meters away from their house, with her severed head placed on top of her belly.
Mother and son were alone in the house Wednesday night when the decapitation happened, said Senior Insp. Elmer Armada, Lambunao police station chief.
The crime was discovered around 6 p.m. by Alendry’s younger sister who had just returned home. She immediately sought the assistance of neighbors.
As of press time, Alendry was detained in isolation at the Lambunao police station.
Armada said the suspect would be transferred to the Iloilo Provincial Hospital in Pototan town.
The hospital has a mental health unit.
According to Barangay Captain Rolando Araceli, a relative of the Leteratos, mother and son likely quarreled.
A younger sister of Erlinda revealed to DyOK Aksyon Radyo-Iloilo that Alendry exhibited violent behavior lately and would physically harm relatives checking on him.
After he returned from Saudi Arabia, Alendry was not his usual kind self anymore, he was sullen, said Judith Florino.
The family had him checked by a doctor who gave him some medicines but lately, according to Florino, he stopped taking them.
Alendry used to have a girlfriend to whom he sent his earnings while working in Saudi Arabia, Florino also claimed. But their relationship did not work out, she said.
On Wednesday around 6 p.m., as Alendry’s sister was approaching home, she was wondering why their house’s lights were not switched on when it was getting dark already.
When she entered the house, she switched on the flashlight she had and saw Alendry in one corner, blood all over his shorts. He was still holding the bolo.
The sister immediately ran out of the house and shouted for help.
Neighbors said they did not hear anything that could have called their attention to check the Leterato household.
The mother would usually talk loud or shout when Alendry had fits, they said.
Neighbors who responded to the sister’s call for help saw Leterato already standing at the balcony of the house.
They said he appeared in a daze and did not show any indication that he was upset with what he just did to his mother.
They eventually convinced him to surrender.
According to Barangay Captain Araceli, Alendry beat up an uncle November last year during an argument.
The Lambunao police said the mother did not have any other wounds in the body./PN
