Cebu detainee kills fellow inmate

CEBU CITY — An inmate, believed to be mentally ill, struck dead a fellow inmate with a steel chair at the Bagong Buhay Rehabilitation Center here, police said.

Tomas Mabatid, 49, who was detained for a homicide case, sustained a crack on the left side of his head which caused his immediate death.

Jail warden Hernan Grande said the incident happened last Wednesday at the jail’s infirmary where Mabatid, whose right side of the body was paralyzed because of a stroke, was recuperating after getting out of the hospital about a week ago.

Suspect Moreno Sernal, 27, charged with frustrated parricide, was also confined in the infirmary then but was secured with leg irons. He earlier tried to escape from a special isolation cell by destroying its ventilation.

The two had maintained a considerable distance from each other at the infirmary until last Wednesday afternoon when Sernal was transferred to a bed near Mabatid to prevent him from getting wet because of the heavy downpour that day.

At about 5:30 p.m., jail officer Filberto Antiquina heard a commotion from the infirmary. Checking it out, he found a bloodied Mabatid on the floor and Sernal holding a steel chair. — Freeman News Service