A baker has been accused of stabbing seven colleagues to death “one by one” at his birthday party while they slept after plying them with gin which he had received as a gift.
The suspect Bogart Ramirez, 32, was arrested after police found seven dead men inside the bakery, and he is accused of killing them in their sleep after supposedly hearing that they were plotting to smother him to death while he slept. Police were called after receving reports of a “gruesome multiple murder incident” at a bakery in Barangay Cupang, Antipolo City, in the Philippines, at 7.40am on Tuesday.
“Upon arrival, seven lifeless male individuals were found inside the bakery. Initial findings indicate that all victims were employees of J&B Malunggay Bakery and were residing in the premises. The victims appear to have been attacked while asleep,” read a statement from the Rizal Police Provincial Office on Facebook.
It said that the suspect was arrested and is being held in custody. “The motive behind this heinous crime remains under investigation. Authorities are exploring all possible angles, including the potential involvement of additional suspects,” it added.
Ramirez is alleged to have given the men gin to drink at his birthday party before reportedly “killing (them) one by one with a knife while they were impaired”. It is understood that it was a neighbour who contacted the police after hearing people scream for help.
Colonel Felipe Maraggun, Rizal police director, said the alcohol was a gift to the suspect for his birthday, reported the Philippine Star. “We subjected the liquor to laboratory testing to determine if it was laced with sedatives,” Colonel Maraggun added.
Ramirez said he gave himself up to police and that he had overheard his colleagues planning to kill him with a pillow. “I surrendered because I have nowhere to go anyway.
“If I leave town, they will still catch me. After leaving the bakery, I headed to the Philippine National Police headquarters,” he said, as reported in People.
“I overheard them planning to smother me to death with a pillow while sleeping, so that when my wife arrives the next day, it would look like I had died from a nightmare.”
He added that he believed it had been a plot by his colleagues to take the business away from him. “There are two of us who are partners at the bakery, and all of the other workers are his relatives. They were trying to gang up on me. If I die, the entire business will be his, so I decided to act first,” he said.
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