Man killed after taking ex-lover's son hostage

MANILA, Philippines –  Policemen shot dead a man who held hostage his ex-partner’s seven-year-old son in an attempt to escape arrest for raping his ex-partner’s 13-year-old daughter in Tondo, Manila Wednesday night.

Manila Police District director Chief Superintendent Roberto Rongavilla said Police Officers 3 Jesus Sumang and Roberto Sunga responded to a report that Joebert Delfino, 26, of Bulacan, was seen in a shanty at the Temporary Housing Building No. 9 at the former Smokey Mountain.

According to Rongavilla, when Delfino sensed the presence of policemen, he held the boy hostage at knifepoint and told the lawmen not to arrest him.

As the policemen tried to talk Delfino into surrendering, the suspect reportedly started to graze the boy’s skin with the pointed end of the knife, prompting Sumang and Sunga to open fire.

Police rushed the wounded hostage-taker to the Gat Andres Bonifacio Hospital, where he was declared dead on arrival for gunshot wounds in the body. The boy was also treated for minor wounds. Police recovered the 13-inch knife used by the hostage-taker.

Homicide section chief Inspector Armando Macaraeg said Delfino was charged with rape by the 13-year-old daughter of his former live-in partner at the Baliuag, Bulacan police station in October.

The mother and her children moved out of Bulacan but Delfino reportedly followed them and allegedly continued his sexual advances towards the daughter.

It was the girl’s uncle who sought police assistance for the arrest of Delfino, Macaraeg said.