COTABATO CITY—A farmer in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao has reported that his son, a surrendered shabu user, was killed by his paranoid friend who feared the victim could be reporting to the police about their snipping of the illegal substance.
Samsudin Ali, a farmer and part-time carpenter, said he and his wife Khadiguia listened behind a wall when Jereck Abo Abdullah, 25, confessed to killing their son Mohammad 26.
Upon interrogation by barangay chairman Mel Sula of Rosary Heights V here, Abdullah said he killed Mohammad merely because of his “suspicion” that the victim was “reporting me” (Abdullah), after the latter had surrendered to authorities and gave up the vice.
The phenomenon is called “tamang hinala” (literally: correct suspicion) in the street parlance of local drug users.
Chief Inspector Efren Salazar, head of the Police Precinct 2 here, said a murder case against Abdullah has been filed in court, which prompted the Regional Trial Court to commit Abdullah to Cotabato City Jail, following his arrest and inquest at the City Prosecutor’s Office.
The Ali couple said the case of their son Mohammad could probably be true in other cases of killings of drugs suspects elsewhere, but whose murders were generally blamed by the public on policemen.
Salazar said because of the incident, the public should give a second look at drugs-related killings that were indiscriminately blamed on PNP personnel as cases of extrajudicial killings. He added that the local fight against illegal drugs enjoyed full support from the local government unit under City Mayor Cynthia Guiani-Sayadi.
The truth, an investigator said, is that shabu users are psychologically often in state of paranoia mixed with anger, and which triggers “his determination to commit crime, rape, murder, even incestuous sexual abuse. “(Anger and paranoia make) a perfect combination for a premeditated murder.”
Based on his confession filed with the Ali couple’s murder complaint at the City Fiscal’s Office, Abdullah said he shot Mohammad Ali dead in front of the Cotabato National High School in Barangay Rosary Heights IV, this city on the evening of Oct. 23, 2017.
But during the arraignment, Abdullah’s lawyer said his client denied the attribution of confession in the information sheet.
Interviewed by reporters later, Abdullah apparently spoke smartly inside prison cell, saying in Filipino that he had “no prior quarrel” with the victim. The line is usually taught to murder or homicide suspects in defense counseling to set aside in court trial “the element of premeditation” in a murder crime that a person is charged with.