By CESAR JOLITO III

A 39-year-old driver was hacked to death allegedly by his own stepfather following a heated dispute over a bamboo fence at Barangay Tapi in Negros Occidental’s Kabankalan City on Monday morning, November 17.

Police identified the victim as Edcel Gonzales, a resident of Purok Palangga in the village.

The suspect, 50-year-old Delmar Quinto, a resident of the same purok, works as a farmer-laborer.

Initial police investigation showed that the night before the incident, Gonzales arrived home from work and cut a section of a bamboo fence along his pathway because it blocked his access to their house.

When Quinto returned and found the fence destroyed, he confronted his wife, who confirmed that her son had done it.

The suspect became enraged and left the residence.

The next morning, the wife saw Quinto, walking with blood stains on his clothes and carrying a bladed weapon toward the health center.

She rushed home, only to find her son lying lifeless on the ground.

The victim was rushed to the nearest hospital, but he was declared dead on arrival.

Quinto was later transferred to Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital for further treatment./CJ, WDJ