Kids killed journo for kicks
05/01/2005 14:05  - (SA)  

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Baguio - Two high school students in the northern Philippines have been arrested for the gruesome 2004 murder of a journalist that one suspect described as a thrill-killing, police said Wednesday.

The bloodied body of Stephen Omaois, 24, a radio journalist and writer for a regional news weekly, was found near the town of Tabuk on November 27. He was among at least 13 journalists murdered in the Philippines that year.

One of the detained suspects, a 16 year-old student at a local high school, has confessed to the police that he and five classmates bashed the victim's head with rocks after making a pact to kill the first person they met, provincial police commander Superintendent James Dogao told reporters here.

One of the five other suspects has since been arrested based on the boy's deposition, while four remain at large.

Pact made in bar

The first suspect told police the murder pact was made while the group drank liquor at a bar in Tabuk.

He and his mates then stepped out of the bar and found Omais, who they took to a nearby forest near their school.

The boys bashed the victim's head, stabbed his body with barbecue sticks, then left for the first detained suspect's house to change their clothes.

The first detained suspect's sister has given a sworn statement to police that she washed the boys' blood-soaked clothes, said the regional police commander, Chief Superintendent Jesus Verzosa.

The boy and his five mates then returned to the place where they left the victim to look for the missing wristwatch of one of the suspects.

They found Omaois still alive so they took a rock and again hit him on the head repeatedly until he stopped breathing, Verzosa said.

A lower court in Tabuk has issued arrest warrants for the four suspects still at large, while murder charges have been filed against all six suspects, Vergara said.

The spate of killings of journalists has raised concern in this country although officials have said that some of the murders may not be related to the victims' jobs. - AFP

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