During heated altercation; Woman kills husband-cop

CEBU, Philippines - The Dumaguete City police are now preparing parricide charges against the woman who shot her policeman-husband dead following a heated argument at the gate of their house in Barangay Junob in Dumaguete at around 1 a.m. yesterday.

Police Officer 3 Jay Samson Jardenico, 37-year-old resident of Block 8, Lot 123 of Sto. Rosario Heights in Barangay Junob sustained one fatal gunshot wound to the breast, hitting his heart, when his wife Kenya Nocete fired a gun at the gate of their house.

Initial investigation said the Jardenico couple had some disagreement already while they attended a party Tuesday evening, causing the wife to go home ahead using their Pajero vehicle. She later returned to the party, apparently to fetch her husband Jay.

The police officer, however refused to come with his wife Kenya, who again went home alone. When Jay later went home, he borrowed the motorcycle of his brother.

According to Inspector Ian Baldomero, deputy chief of the Dumaguete Police, Jay arrived home but Kenya refused him entry by locking the gate from inside. Heated altercation ensued to the extent that Kenya took a  gun from their Pajero vehicle, supposedly to threaten Jay from going inside because he was too drunk at the time.

The gun however went off with the bullet piercing through the iron gate and hit the policeman. He was rushed to the Holy Child Hospital where he was declared dead on arrival.

Kenya told investigators that she was not aware that Jay was hit, insisting that her only intention then was only to fire a warning shot.

Investigators recovered from the scene the firearm allegedly used in the incident, a .45-caliber pistol that was however believed to be unlicensed. Baldomero said Jay was issued with a 9mm Glock pistol, as his service firearm.

Superintendent Jovito Atanacio, chief of the Dumaguete Police, however bared to the media a new angle related to the killing. Kenya, the suspect, told the police that she was a battered wife.

Atanacio said that had he been informed about it before, the couple may have been invited to a conference, considering that Kenya is a social worker assigned to the Dumaguete City Social Welfare Office.

Atanacio said the Dumaguete Police has a grievance committee tasked to patch up differences between a policeman and his spouse or family member, before the rift goes out of control.

The battered wife disclosure of Kenya somehow surprised Atanacio, saying that Jay was a kind person, a shooting team member, and a psychologist who belongs to the medical team.

The family of Jay told The Freeman they will be pursuing parricide charges against his wife Kenya who is now locked up at the City Police detention cell after undergoing a paraffin test. (FREEMAN)