US court sentences ex-soldier for beating to death Filipino wife

CHICAGO, Illinois – A US court formally sentenced a former US Army serviceman to 18 years in New Jersey State Prisons on Wednesday for beating his Filipino wife to death in their home after a spat last year.

Eddy Casco, 30, a native of Managua , Nicaragua was charged with aggravated manslaughter for the killing of Maritess “Teris" Casco, just a day after celebrating her 33rd birthday.

State Prosecutor Steve Dill said Superior Court Judge Peter J. Vazquez of the Hudson County in Jersey City gave out the sentence.

Teris, a medical administrator for Riverside Pediatric Group in Secaucus, New Jersey was repeatedly hit and stomped on by Casco in the evening of January 19, 2007.

Teris suffered broken ribs in 20 places, a broken nose, and brain hemorrhaging as a result of the beating.

The couple was happily celebrating Teris’ birthday at a bar near their home until, reports said, Casco confessed to an affair which he said he had already ended a month earlier.

This prompted Teris to plan to go to Hawaii to think things over with her relatives there. It was in Hawaii, where Teris first met Eddy in 2000 while Eddy was serving in the Army.

Tragic end

Annadel A. Almendras, deputy Attorney General of California and Filipina Women’s Network Courtwatch Coordinator said that what happened to Teris, who has repeatedly undergone physical abuse from her husband, was a tragedy.

“Teris did not have to die, and her death is an example of how silence can kill," she said.

Because Teris has no relatives in New Jersey , the FWN collaborated with the Jersey City-based Philippine-American Friendship Committee, Inc. (PAFCOM), NJ City University and CONNECT NYC to organize a community outreach.

Teris’s nearest relative is her mother, Ester Agatep of Westminster, California. Her father, Benjamin Cabuco is in the Philippines while his brother, Tom Cabuco, is believed to be in the Navy in Japan .

Filipino community leaders as well as Jersey City council members and city agency representatives attended the town hall meeting.

They tried to find ways on how to break the silence, the cycle of shame and to effectively confront the high incidence of domestic violence in Filipino homes. GMANews.TV

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