Tuñacao’s case

LOST in the outrage over the killing of Karen Kaye Montebon in Lapu-Lapu City last Tuesday was another incident that drew the attention of the sporting world here and abroad. Former world flyweight champion Malcolm Tuñacao was seriously injured when he was attacked with a bolo by his live-in partner inside their house in Mandaue City also last Tuesday.

Jessica Grace Tiu, 39, first attacked the 37-year-old Tuñacao while he was asleep and even when he was already awake, sending him to the hospital for multiple hack wounds in the process. Tiu, who is now in the custody of the Mandaue police, suspected Tuñacao of having an affair with another woman. She said she didn’t intend to kill her husband.

While incidents of a wife attacking her husband have happened many times before, these are unique in the sense that these break the stereotype of the husband usually the one attacking the wife. Indeed, when one talks about spousal abuse, the thinking is always that it refers more to battered wives than to battered husbands.

It’s not that a wife physically abusing her husband is such a rare occurrence it is barely noticeable. Rather, it’s more likely that such incidents have been underreported for a number of reasons.

For one, husbands are usually bigger and stronger than their wives so that attacks done by the former are more likely to result in injury than attacks done by the latter. Also, husbands are less likely to admit being battered by their wives because of shame.

Apparently, Tuñacao’s relationship with Tiu took a turn for the worse after he signed with Japanese boxing manager Masato Yamashita and largely stayed in Japan. Tiu suspected Tuñacao of having an affair with a Japanese woman. Worse, Tiu claimed she overheard Tuñacao talking on the phone about marrying the Japanese woman.

It would be interesting to find out Tuñacao’s side of the incident. But whatever he would say later on, it is obvious that the problems he and his wife were sorting out were so serious the latter was prompted to break the stereotype about spousal abuse.