A 19-month-old baby boy was horrifically decapitated when a head scarf covering his head became entrapped in the wheel of the motorcycle his grandmother had been riding in a horrific accident on 2 Dec, in Northern Samar, Philippines.
The infant, named Prince Calot, was in the arms of his mother, 25-year-old Lorna Stephanie Nueva, who was riding pillion while Lorna’s mother, 45-year-old Rosita Tejano was steering the Honda XRM bike. The trio were returning home from a doctor’s appointment and the little boy was wearing a long yellow silk scarf on his head – to keep the sun and wind out of his face.
As the trio made their way, the scarf drifted into the gears of the motorcycle, tightening around the baby’s neck and flinging the baby to the ground. The sudden action severed the baby’s head in front of his mother and grandmother before they could act.
Passers-by crowded around the devastated grandmother and mother who was cradling the body and head of her baby – still wrapped in the yellow scarf. Although Lorna wailed and pleaded for help, emergency services who responded to the scene pronounced her boy dead.
This is the second tragedy in recent years to have hit Lorna and her family after her eight-year-old daughter drowned in a river in their home village two years ago, in 2016.
The heartbroken mother told the press: ”I don’t know how it happened. I gave my boy the scarf to stop him from getting chills while we rode and to keep the sun away from his head. I was holding him and my mother was riding at the front. It happened so fast and I couldn’t hold him. He was pulled down.”
The police could charge both Lorna and Rosita with violating Republic Act 10666 or An Act Providing For the Safety of Children Aboard Motorcycles and for reckless imprudence resulting in homicide. Investigations are ongoing.
