Maid stabs baby, torches crib?

MANILA, Philippines - Police are set to question a housemaid for allegedly stabbing her employer’s six-month-old daughter and setting her crib on fire in Barangay South Cembo in Makati City yesterday morning.

Makati police chief Senior Superintendent Froilan Bonifacio, said homicide investigators will question the Sol family’s maid, identified only as “Cherry,” the primary suspect in the incident.

Investigators discovered the homicide after a fire gutted a rented two-story apartment along General Luna street. When the smoke cleared at about 12:22 p.m., the baby, identified as Colli Sol, bore stab wounds.

“Apparently, there was a commotion inside the house first before the fire started. Our initial investigation showed that the fire started at the baby’s crib,” Makati fire chief Superintendent Samuel Tadeo said.

The fire quickly gutted the apartment but did not spread to adjacent houses, he said. Firemen rescued Colli; her father, Junior Sol; her mother, Rochelle Sol; and Cherry from the burning house. A neighbor, Rodwind Austria, suffered burns on his shoulders when he tried to assist the firemen, Tadeo said.

He said all the victims were rushed to the Ospital ng Makati for treatment, but Colli died hours later.