Fruit vendor mauled, stabbed for P600 debt

CEBU, Philippines - A fruit vendor was seriously injured after he was mauled and stabbed by three men after he reportedly failed to pay his P600 debt to one of the suspects.

The incident happened in Barangay Kasambagan last Saturday afternoon.

The victim, Leonard Colita, 20, a native of Tayud, Liloan town, sustained bruises and a stab wound on his left chest.

Colita identified the suspects as Reynaldo Solon of barangay Luz; Reynaldo’s cousin Jobert Solon and Louie Anam, a neighbor of the Solons. The suspects are also fruit and food vendors.

Colita told the police he was vending his fruits about 1pm when the suspects approached him and demanded that he pay his debt. Reynaldo allegedly got irked when he said he would give him only a partial amount.

It was at this time when the three suspects started mauling Colita and stab him on the chest.

Responding policemen of the city police homicide section and tanods of Barangay Luz later conducted a hot pursuit operation and subsequently arrested Anam. The Solon cousins remain at large.

Another fruit vendor, Rubelyn Perez, brought Colita to the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center for treatment. — THE FREEMAN