Burglar steals from trader; another woman shot dead

CEBU, Philippines - A burglar barged into a woman’s house in Barangay Lugo, Borbon and punched her before carting away more than P200,000 worth of cash and a piece of jewelry at past 12 a.m. on Saturday.

Lalaine Piodos, a dry goods vendor, woke up after falling unconscious only to find her P110,000 cash and gold necklace already missing.

As per initial investigation, Piodos was sleeping inside her room when around midnight she heard a noise coming from the comfort room.

She checked what the noise was about and to her surprise found a man inside the comfort room.

The man destroyed the toilet’s ceiling and used a wire in going down.

Piodos wrestled with the man, but the latter choked her. She bit his arm, but the man punched her to her stomach that made her pass out.

When she regained consciousness, Piodos found the stuff inside her room already scattered.

The P110,000 cash intended for her dry goods business as well as her gold necklace worth P100,000 were already missing.

The victim reported the incident to the police, who are now in the process of identifying the burglar.

Meanwhile, a woman was shot dead inside her house in Barangay Inayawan, Cebu City yesterday noon.

Wilma Solon, 47, a fruit shake vendor, died of a lone gunshot wound to the right side of her body.

Senior Police Officer 2 Ruth Violango of the Homicide Section of the Cebu City Police Office said two unidentified persons were last seen with Solon before the shooting happened.

Violango said the two bought fruit shake from the victim and not long after, a burst of gunfire rang up.

The assailants left the house immediately on board a motorcycle.

The victim died in the arms of her husband.

According to Violango, the assailants’ target was really the victim and it could not possibly be a case of mistaken identity.

“Siya gyud ang target atong gunman kay gikaatubang pa man gani niya, dili gyud ‘to taga diha. Posibleng sinugo ra ‘to kay wala man gani nagtaptap sa nawong,” Violango said.

A deformed slug of an undetermined caliber of firearm was recovered from the crime scene.

Investigation is ongoing to identify the gunmen and to determine their motive in killing the victim.  (FREEMAN)