A man has been taken into custody by the police after he beheaded his 65-year-old neighbour following a clash over her flowers.
Rosalina Abing Asilo had been confronted by Mario Furton, 48, over flowers planted near her home in Bayugan City in the Philippines on January 2.
Things then escalated when Rosalina allegedly screamed back at her neighbour and called him a thief after he complained the flowers’ thorns scratched him whenever he walked past.
According to Mail Online, Mario went drinking with his friends after the confrontation, before going to Rosalina’s local store. There, he allegedly pounced on the helpless woman, who was at the store alone at the time, decapitating her.
Mario was said to have then laughed and returned to present the severed head to his friends back at the bar, before being arrested by police.
Police Lieutenant Colonel Shalom Faye Cornelio, chief of the Bayugan Police Station, told local media: ‘The suspect was in the middle of drinking beer with friends when he asked them, “Do you want a gift? I will give you one, just wait” before going to the victim’s store.’
He had a bolo – a curved knife used widely in the Philippines as a farming tool – with him which he used to chop off her head.
‘The suspect returned to the farmer’s building 200 metres away from the store carrying the woman’s head and said, “Here is my gift to you”.
‘The root of the attack was a minor argument about the victim’s flowers,’ police added.
‘They were blocking the suspect’s path, and he became mad because they were thorny.’
Speaking to local reporters while detained, a smiling Mario said he ‘regretted his actions’.
He said: ‘I was hurt because she called me a thief in front of my children when I was trying to talk to her calmly.
‘I am sorry to the victim and her family. I only did it because I was embarrassed.’
Rosalina’s husband Buenaventura Asilo, 65, said his wife was alone at the store because he had left to work at the local fish pond until 6 pm.
He said: ‘I had no idea what had happened because we seldom talked with the suspect.
‘My wife and I have no children, that’s why she was alone during the attack.
‘She has four kids with her previous husband. I am talking with them so we can take legal action.’
Authorities said Mario had been a respondent in several drug-related cases.
He was scheduled to undergo a drug test to check if he was under the influence during the assault.
