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By JOEY NACALABAN and LITO RULONA
Correspondents .

MURDERED Criminology student Marjun Mejos had been in prison because he stabbed a young man out of self-defense, the victim’s father Mercelino said over the weekend.

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The 21-year-old Mejos was found dead by a group of police officers in Sitio Camacawan in Barangay Indahag. His severely burnt body was sprawled on a vacant property with gaping wounds in the back and head.

Authorities said the body showed signs that the victim was beaten up and stabbed before his body was burned.

The victim, a resident of Barangay Bonbon, was a senior criminology student at the Cagayan de Oro College-Phinma.

Mejos’s father Marcelino called for justice even as he asked the police to investigate a teenager from Camaman-an and his son’s girlfriend.

Marcelino said murder victim’s girlfriend, whom he called “JM” is a college student at Liceo de Cagayan University.

“Daku gyud akong pagtoo nga adunay kasayoran ang maong uyab sa akong anak,” Marcelino said.

Hours before the crime, Marcelino said his son joined him and other members of the family in a dinner in a local restaurant.

He said Mejos had asked him if he could bring JM along, but Marcelino told him not to because he wanted the dinner to be exclusive to family members.

The victim, according to Marcelino, went ahead of everyone because he had other plans for the night.

Marcelino said his son apparently went to Macapaya, a relocation site in Indahag, where JM lives.

He said he had warned his son against going to the place because that was where he figured in a brawl with a group of young men late last year.

Marcelino said the brawl resulted in Mejos being charged with frustrated homicide after he stabbed one of his attackers out of self-defense. He said the young man who was stabbed is JM’s neighbor.

Marcelino said, “Siya unta ang gadunggabon apan iyang nabawi ang maong kutsilyo mao tong siyay nakadunggab.”

He said his son was placed behind bars at the city jail in Lumbia because of that. Mejos was subsequently released after he posted a bailbond.

Lt. Col. Mardy Hortillosa, city police spokesman, said investigators were looking into the case that resulted from the Nov. 8, 2019 stabbing in Indahag.

Hortillosa said Mejos’s accuser is considered a “person of interest” but not a suspect.

The teenager, an 18-year-old from Barangay Camaman-an, has been sent invitation for investigation by the police, he said.

“There’s a possibility of revenge. Tumbokon ta kini og pag-ayo in fairness sab,” Hortillosa said. “Let’s make it clear that when you become a ‘POI’ (‘person of interest’), it does not mean that you are the prime suspect. We only need an explanation. He also has the right not to submit to the proceedings.” 

But Hortillosa said investigators were also looking into Mejos’s record to check if he had no other cases.

“Ato pud gisulay ang laing angle,” he said.   

Hortillosa said the police have asked the Mejos family to allow an autopsy so investigators would know exactly how the student was killed.

“Kinahanglabn gyud nga mahibaw-an nato kung gi-unsa siya pagpatay,” he said.

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