In the sleepy town of Dalaguete, 90.9 kilometers south of Cebu City, residents of a mountain village were painfully jolted at dawn when a drug-crazed man suddenly slashed his wife’s throat, stabbed his sister and injured his son at 3 a.m. on Friday.
The two women died while his 12-year-old son survived the attack.
The 39-year-old construction worker, Jose Benjie Beldad Sr., crept into the room where his wife, Wilma, was sleeping along with their son inside their house in Barangay Lanao.
And with a kitchen knife, he stabbed Wilma several times in the neck and chest to the horror of their son.
Police said the incident happened just hours after the couple was overheard fighting by neighbors Thursday night.
According to investigators, Jose Benjie was a drug addict who had suffered from a nervous breakdown.
His 12-year-old son sustained two stab wounds on the arms and was rushed to the Julio Cardinal Rosales Memorial Hospital in Dalaguete by Antonio Sabarita, the suspect’s brother-in-law who lived in a house nearby.
Sabarita also immediately sought the help of Dalaguete policemen.
Upon learning that Sabarita had gone off to call the police, Jose Benjie turned his ire on Sabarita’s wife — his sister, Amalia, stabbing her to death.
While police were on their way to the area, Jose Benjie was seen taking his two sons hostage.
He, however, lost control of his sons who managed to slip away.
“We first aimed at his knees but he kept on attacking us. We did not have any option but to shoot him on the stomach,” PO1 Jerson Alcantara, who was part of the responding team, told Cebu Daily News in Cebuano.
Jose Benjie, who attacked police with a knife, was killed by the cops.
His sons are now under the custody of the town’s social welfare department.
Barangay Lanao, though located in the mountainous side of Dalaguete, suffers from an illegal drug problem with the rampant sale of shabu (methamphetamine) and marijuana, according to PO1 Aniceto Cordova of the Dalaguete police.