Friday, March 7, 2008

Nursing Student Killed Over Cell Phone In Cebu City

In the local news today, a robber shot and killed past midnight Thursday a nursing student just three weeks shy of her graduation over a P5,000-cellular phone.

Ruby Jade Magpatoc Ruba, 20, was attacked along Gov. Roa St. in Barangay Capitol, Cebu City. At the time of the attack, she was working on a case study she had to finish in order to graduate.

Cebu City Mayor Tomas OsmeƱa offered P30,000 for the arrest of the gunman, who he hopes is not "another criminal on the rampage." He also said he will provide financial aid to the student's family and immediate burial assistance of not less than P5,000. That's not even enough to pay for her space in a decent cemetery.

Ruby, 20, hailed from Macrohon, Southern Leyte and temporarily lived in an apartment on B. Rodriguez St., Cebu City. She was scheduled to graduate from the Cebu Doctors' University on March 30, Ruby's brother Richie told reporters.

Ruby, daughter of Vicente Ruba of the Philippine Coast Guard Headquarters District Central 7, was the only girl of three siblings.

Homicide investigators led by SPO1 Jay Yballe learned that Ruby, together with a female friend were heading toward a dormitory on Gov. Roa St. (formerly Kamuning St.), Capitol Site to pick up the adaptor of a laptop they borrowed from a classmate.

Ruby was working on her case study, a graduation requirement.

When Ruby and her friend were near the dormitory, she sent a text message to inform her classmate that they had arrived. At that point, a man appeared and pointed a gun at the two women. Scared, the two ran in different directions. Ruby's friend told Yballe that a single gunshot was the next thing she heard. She saw her friend slumped on the dormitory's ramp.

The friend and the dormitory's security guard rushed her to the Cebu Doctors' Hospital, a few blocks away, but she died minutes later. A pouch where Ruby kept her Nokia cellular phone, a model worth about P5,000, was already gone. The armed robber reportedly fled on a red motorcycle driven by a cohort.

Ruby's brother, Richie, said that based on the autopsy performed by Dr. Benjamin Lara, PNP 7 medico-legal officer, the slug hit his sister's left side and tore out through her chest, before hitting the side of her left wrist. It pierced her lungs, liver, heart, and stomach.

He appealed to the police to identify and arrest the man who killed his sister. Ruby, he said, was looking forward to their class prom next week and had already picked out her class ring.

Her body will be brought back to the family's hometown in Southern Leyte Friday night. Whether or not there was a lapse in the police measures taken to secure the site where Ruby was shot is a matter the mayor and local police officers still have to discuss.

It's creepy but I have to point out how near B Rodriguez is to where I live. It's also sad and scary that we can't feel safe anymore. Just think about it, you could die over P5,000 or a cellular phone.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

It is very sad but there is nothing we can do but to be more careful. There are idiots in the world who does not think twice on hurting other people just to get what they want.

All we can do is to show that we don't tolerate such action and the criminal be punished.