Motorbike-riding robbers kill med student, Arab businessman in Tondo

MANILA, Philippines - Robbers riding tandem on motorcycles stabbed a 20-year-old woman studying medicine and shot dead an Arab businessman in Tondo, Manila hours apart yesterday.

Mary Roxanne Musngi, of Gagalangin , Tondo, a student of the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila and reportedly the granddaughter of a former senior police aide of Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim, was declared dead on arrival at the Tondo Medical Center.

According to Police Officer 3 Jaime Gonzales Jr., Musngi was on her way home at past 3 a.m. after a group study when she was blocked by three men riding tandem on a motorcycle at the corner of Gen. Lukban and Juan Luna streets.

Two of the men alighted and grabbed her bag. The victim tried to resist, but one of the suspects stabbed her repeatedly. The suspects fled when she fell.

PO3 Rommel del Rosario checked if the suspects were caught on video by a close-circuit television camera installed along Pritil street, but unfortunately the spy camera had not functioned for the past several months.

Del Rosario said they have four minors who could provide the police with leads to track the suspects, but police “still need the approval and cooperation of their parents.”

Several hours later, an Arab expatriate was shot dead by two men in another block where the first victim was killed.

Fail Shaheem, 45, was declared dead on arrival at the Jose Reyes Memorial Medical Center from a single bullet wound in the chest.

Police Officer 3 Gerry Amores said Shaheem and his female assistant, Nelia Pusing, 30, were on their way to the victim’s bakery store along Solis street on a motorcycle at around 10 a.m. when their vehicle was blocked by two men on another motorcycle.

One of the men alighted and shot Shaheem. The attackers spared Pusing but took her gold bracelet and necklace.

Police Officer 2 Carlo Hernandez, reportedly detailed at Camp Crame, heard the gunshot, went out of his house and fired at the suspects but missed. The suspects fled on foot. Hernandez chased them but and lost them in the maze of shanties in the area.

Responding policemen later recovered at an alley one of the suspects’ full-face helmet, an undershirt, a large handkerchief and a pair of slippers. “One of the suspects managed to change clothes before escaping,” Amores said.

He said the suspects could be hired killers since they did not take anything from the slain victim. Shaheem was reportedly married to a Filipina and owned a number of bakeries and eateries in his 10-year stay in the country, according to Amores.