Two years after a gruesome stabbing aboard an MSC container ship off the coast of California, a Filipino seafarer has been sentenced to 20 years in US prison.
According to a statement from the US Department of Justice, Michael Dequito Monegro, 44, a resident of the Philippines, was sentenced by a United States District Judge who described the conduct as “unusually heinous, cruel and brutal”.
Monegro pleaded guilty on May 2 to one count of committing an act of violence against a person onboard a ship that is likely to endanger the safe navigation of the ship.
In September 2020, Monegro was working as a seaman aboard the MSC Ravenna, a 153 000-gross-ton Liberian-flagged container ship. The murder took place on September 20, 2020, when the Ravenna was approximately 80 nautical miles from Southern California and nearing the end of its two-week voyage from Shanghai to the Port of Los Angeles.
That morning, several crewmembers were in a dressing room on the ship’s upper deck, preparing for their shift and waiting for their direct supervisor to provide their work assignments for the day. Shortly after Monegro saw his direct supervisor – identified in court documents as “MS” – in the hallway outside the locker room, he began stabbing him with a knife while they were both in the hallway in full view of several crewmembers.
The victim grappled with Monegro and the two fell to the floor. Monegro then got on top of the victim and continued stabbing him. Monegro then removed a second knife from the victim’s coveralls and stabbed him with both knives.
Crewmembers attempted to intervene to stop Monegro, including throwing a trash can at him, but their actions were unsuccessful. He stopped stabbing the victim only when he became too tired to continue. In total, he stabbed the victim 31 times.
The ship’s captain, chief mate and chief engineer all arrived on scene during the incident, and the captain convinced Monegro to get off the victim, who died on the ship from multiple stab wounds.
Monegro was convinced by the captain to walk to a conference room. After continued discussions, he placed the knives on the conference room table and was escorted to his cabin.
He was then confined to a cabin and crewmembers were assigned to guard the door, so they were unable to perform their normal duties on the ship. Other crewmembers were traumatised by witnessing Monegro stab and kill the victim.
He was arrested after the ship docked at the Port of Los Angeles on September 27, 2020 and has been in federal custody since his arrest.
The murder left behind MS’s wife and daughter, who was 17 at the time of the murder. MS was the sole breadwinner, and his death put significant financial strain on the family.
