An indie actor had been detained and facing possible murder charges for the brutal death of an office supervisor inside a supermarket in San Mateo, Rizal on Wednesday night.

Eugene Kiro Tejada, who appeared in some sexually-oriented indie films, was arrested by the police after witnesses pointed to him as the one who mauled to death Frenil Bautista, 44, married, an administrative supervisor at the Beta Equipment Sales Corp, on Nov. 22, at about 6:30 p.m.

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Tejada, also a businessman, was among the actors in the low-budgeted indie film “Kubli” portraying a character in gay relationship.

Reports from the San Mateo Police station disclosed that Tejada, resident of 20 Vancouver Filinvest 1, Batasan Hills, Quezon City, mauled Bautista inside the comfort room of the Puregold branch in Banaba, San Mateo, breaking the victim’s skull causing him to slip into a coma.

Bautista, after two days of being unconscious in a hospital bed, died at the Marikina Valley Medical Center on Friday hours after doctors performed a delicate brain surgery on him because of the severe damage it caused by the mauling.

Doctors said a portion of Bautista’s skull had to be removed to drain the blood clot as a result of massive blows to the head.

Prior to the mauling incident, Tejada accused Bautista of groping a body part of the suspect’s live-in partner, May Jana Malilin, while inside the Puregold grocery.

The family of Bautista claimed the victim was falsely accused of allegedly taking sexual advances against the girl, saying it was not in the victim’s character to do such a thing.

Families and relatives of Bautista could not believe Malilin’s claim because of all people, the victim was a decent man, a very soft-spoken and kind-hearted person.

It was learned that the victim has been suffering from diabetes and high-blood pressure and more often he would feel dizzy or disoriented at some point.

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At that time of the said advances as claimed by Malilin, Bautista maybe suffering from disorientation because of high sugar or high-blood pressure and accidentally leaned on the suspect’s live-in partner, the victim’s family members added.

“Na-misinterpret nya siguro na hinipuan sya (She may have misinterpret everything and just claimed Bautista was taking advances),” said Fernan Marasigan, the victim’s brother-in-law.

“I swear to my father’s grave. Hinding hindi nya magagawa ang mangbastos ng babae. Binata pa lang yan kilala ko na yan. Sobrang bait. Sobrang tahimik at disenteng tao. Hindi ko pa nakitang nagalit yan o nagmura o sumimangot (He will never ever disrespect a woman. I knew him since we were young. He’s very nice. A very quiet and decent person. I never saw him get angry or even curse or grimace his face at someone),” he added.

At the police station, Tejada admitted mauling the victim at the restroom of Puregold after his live-in partner claimed that Bautista groped a part of her body.

“What is more chilling was how the doctors described the brutality of this man, durog-durog ang bungo ng pasyente,” said Lorenz Christoffer Marasigan, the victim’s nephew.

Both Bautista and the suspect were brought to the San Mateo police station for investigation after the mauling incident. There, Bautista already showed signs of a more serious head injury when he could not even say his name to the investigators.

“My uncle suffered too much. While being questioned in the precinct, my uncle could not even muster saying a word. By the time that he got into the hospital, he was already in too much pain and serious weakness,” Marasigan said.

The family is determined to pursue murder charges against Tejada. /jpv

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