PUJ conductor stabbed dead

A public utility jeepney conductor was stabbed to death by a fellow conductor yesterday morning in sitio Upper Torre, barangay Inayawan, Cebu City.

Benedicto Claro, 19, a native of Calatrava town, Negros Occidental, temporarily residing in sitio Greenfield, barangay Inayawan, died after he sustained several stab wounds after being attacked by the assailant identified only as a certain Ramil Delbo alias "Lupin", said to be from the town of Tuburan.

PO3 Buenaventura Ursaiz of the Homicide Section yesterday said that Claro sustained fatal wounds in his face, left side of his chest and back as well as the right hand when he tried defending himself from the attack.

Ursaiz said they have yet to determine the motive of the crime because based on the account of a certain Cheryl Canoy who witnessed the incident, there was not provocation on the part of the victim.

But Canoy said the two later got into a fistfight that resulted to the stabbing of Claro. She said that both were armed with deadly weapons.

Canoy also said that she first shouted for help, then left the area to call the police for assistance. When she came back, Claro's body was already sprawled on the ground while Delbo was nowhere to be found.

As the police further investigated the alleged assailant they found out that he was no longer living in Tuburan, but has settled down in Inayawan town with his common-law wife.

Appropriate charges will be filed against him, Ursaiz said. - Flor Z. Perolina