By Cherrie Anne E. Villahermosa
Variety News Staff

POLICE arrested a 31-year-old man for striking another man with a baseball bat in the head on New Year’s Day.
Basilio Selepeo Taman, also known as Buck, was booked and detained for assault with dangerous weapon, aggravated assault and battery and disturbing the peace.
Taman was brought for a bail hearing yesterday before Associate Judge David A. Wiseman who imposed a cash bail of $25,000.
Taman’s counsel, Chief Public Defender Elisa Long, requested bail modification.
Wiseman set the bail modification hearing for today at 3 p.m.
A preliminary hearing was set for Jan. 10, at 9 a.m. while arraignment was set for Jan. 16.
Taman was remanded to the custody of the Department of Corrections after the bail hearing.
The affidavit of Detective Patrick Maanao stated that at 10:22 p.m. on Monday, police responded to a disturbance behind the mosque in Garapan next to Corner Pocket.
Responding police officers saw the victim, Mohammed Ruhul Amin, 30, lying on the gravel while the suspect was sitting with several people standing and holding him.
Police later learned that the victim was in the parking lot and was opening the door of his van when he was hit in the back of the head.
The victim fell to his knees and was trying to get up when the suspect struck his hand with some object.
The suspect was shouting “I’m going to kill you” at the victim several times before he was subdued and held by bystanders until the arrival of the police.
Amin was brought to the Commonwealth Health Center for treatment.
He sustained injuries to the head and had a fractured knee cap.
According to the police, Amin knows Taman who was was often seen in the company of the victim’s former wife.