Photo: ABS-CBN News" width="100%" />
A farmer who was accused of burning his girlfriend’s 2-year-old son to death was himself found dead in his prison cell today in Maigo town, in Lanao del Norte.
Florencio Curay was found lifeless inside the bathroom of the Maigo Municipal Station with a sling bag tied around his neck, ABS-CBN reports.
A duty officer was inspecting the cells at around midnight when he called Curay’s name but the farmer did not respond. An inmate went to check him in the bathroom, and was found him there, unconscious, Mindanao Daily reports.
Lieutenant Baltazar Deguilmo, chief of Maigo Municipal Police Station said, “We observed yesterday that he was very silent and did not eat. He was restless.”
According to one of the inmates, Curay had allegedly offered to pay off the father of the victim with PHP100,000 (US$1,979) if the latter would choose not to press charges over the death son. However, the father of the child allegedly refused to settle the matter out of the court.
Curay was charged with violating the Anti-Child Abuse Law after he allegedly murdered the son of his girlfriend over the weekend. The suspect was allegedly drunk when he arrived home, and became angry when he discovered some money missing.
He accused his girlfriend, Janet Balde, of stealing the money, and dragged her outside with her son, but she escaped, The Philippine Daily Inquirer reports. With Balde gone, Curay allegedly burned the toddler alive.
In an interview with local media, however, the suspect denied killing the child.
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