MANILA, Philippines - A 10-month-old girl died after she was stabbed 13 times by her mother, who was allegedly high on illegal drugs, in Barangay Payatas, Quezon City Friday afternoon.
Aira Sarmiento was sleeping when her mother, Piavera, got home at around 5:30 p.m. Friday. Neighbors said they heard her shouting and cursing, according to investigators.
Piavera used a bread knife to stab Aira, her seventh child, 11 times in the abdomen and twice in the lower back.
Investigators said the woman may have been hallucinating about fighting with a neighbor.
Witness Isidro Balde said he was drinking with friends outside his house when he heard Piavera shouting in her house, then fall silent.
Moments later, Balde said Piavera came out of her house, carrying her wounded daughter and asking her neighbors to help bring the baby to the nearest hospital.
While waiting for an ambulance from the barangay hall, Piavera told officials she stabbed her daughter but was not aware at the time of what she did.
Piavera, however, told The STAR that when she got home, her daughter was already wounded.
Investigators said Piavera’s husband was gathering scraps and recyclable materials to sell to junkshops when their children told him about the incident.
Investigators said Piavera’s husband did not believe their children until he saw his wife arrested by the police.
Neighbors said Piavera, who is temporarily detained at the Quezon City Police District’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit, is reportedly drug-dependent. She will be charged with parricide, investigators said.