Man Beats Himself to Death?

American Found Dead In His Bantayan Island Jail Cell

Paul Agostilli, of Illinois, USA, died at Bantayan Island amid differing reports.  We heard early this morning that a man named Paul had died after a group of Filipino beat him to death.  He was known to beat his wife here.  it appears they were actually not married but lived as man and wife.  It was said that he had a history of beating his wife.

Long before I came here, I was told by Filipino that families sometimes handle their problems this way.  The towns people will get together and whip or kill someone that is hurting others so the story this morning was not hard to believe.

We got our paper and according to the Freeman, the police are saying that the prisoner beat his head against the wall and that is what killed him.  This paper also said that he beat up two other inmates and they ended up moving the Mr. Agostilli to another cell where he stripped himself naked.  They also claim that he had beat the bars of his jail cell with his hands and elbows.  I’m not sure why the paper volunteered that information or if the police volunteered it.  According to the Freeman the Police went to get a medical doctor to give the man some sedatives but when they returned they found him sprawled across the floor of the jail cell and unresponsive.  He was taken to the hospital and pronounced dead on arrival.  The hospital said he had suffocated to death.

The Cebu Daily News reported that “the American was found slumped on the floor and unconscious inside the cell.”  No mention was made of him beating his head on the wall or of beating his fist and elbows on the bars.

All three accounts agreed that he was beating his girlfriend/wife and that he was dead but all three version differ a great deal.  Beating yourself to death seems pretty close to impossible unless he had lost his mind.  At 35 he is much younger than most expats and was reported to have lived in Bantayan Island for about a year.

Another case of an American coming to the Philippines and reflecting poorly on us all.  It is unfortunate that whatever was going on in his mind couldn’t have been resolved in a more productive way.  I hope the woman is okay and has not had her entire future destoryed.

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