By: Jel Santos
A one-year-old boy died after his aunt high on drugs threw him into a canal after putting him inside a cabinet in Caloocan City, Tuesday night.
Caloocan Police chief Senior Supt. Chito Bersaluna said that Maria Ruth Mariano, 23, admitted that she was under the influence of illegal drugs when she killed her “irritating” nephew.
Mariano said that she was on her way to the comfort room to take a bath after sniffing two sachets of shabu inside their house in Barangay 70, Caloocan, when she heard her nephew crying around 6 p.m..
She said that she tried to calm the child, but he did not stop.
Irked, the woman wrapped the baby with a blanket and put him inside a cabinet so she could not hear him crying.
Police said the suspect fell asleep after taking a bath. When she woke up, she realized that the baby was still inside the cabinet.
“She told us that she took the baby outside the cabinet, but was not breathing. She then decided to throw the baby to a nearby canal,” Bersaluna said.
It was learned that the parents of the child was at work when the incident happened.
When the grandmother of the child was already looking for him, a neighbor told her that she saw the suspect throw something into the canal.
Upon checking, she found in the canal her missing grandchild wrapped with a very thick blanket and looked very pale.
The child was rushed to the nearest hospital but he was declared dead on arrival around 9 p.m.
Police arrested the suspect on the same day after the parents of the child reported the incident.
Mariano, a mother of two, said that she was very sorry for what she did. She said that she wants to undergo rehabilitation.
Mariano is currently detained at the Caloocan Police headquarters.