Son kills mother with hammer believing her to be blood-sucking aswang

aswang
Police said the son – who was known to be a glue sniffer – claimed that he believed his mother was an aswang, or mythical shape-shifting blood sucker.

A 24-year-old man killed his mother with a hammer in Tacloban City believing she was an aswang, or blood-sucking monster.

Radio station RMN identified the victim as 59-year-old Delia Ondes Betor who was bludgeoned to death late on Monday (November 26). 

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Her own son, Germas, has been arrested on suspicion of murder by the police following the grisly hammer attack.

According to a report on ABS-CBN News, one of the victim’s children noticed that their brother’s hands were covered in blood. 

The suspect was said to have confessed to the crime, saying that he killed his mother because he believed she was an aswang.

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In Philippine folkore, an aswang is a mythical shape-shifting ghoul. Exact descriptions of the monsters vary from place to place across the country, but they are generally said to be females who gorge on human flesh, particularly of young children and unborn babies.

According to police, the victim’s remains were found to have at least eight wounds to different parts of her body, suggesting a frenzied attack. 

They also said that Germas had also killed a neighbour’s dog and smashed the window of a nearby junk shop. The dog and the junk shop were both owned by the local barangay [village] chairman. It has not been determined if these were deliberately targeted, or just random attacks.

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Police have also discovered that the suspect was known to sniff glue. Officers are working to determine if he was high when he went on the rampage.

Germas is now detained at the Tacloban City Police Office, where charges of parricide [killing of a parent] are being prepared against him. 

His mothers remains are in the village’s chapel.

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