Robber-rapists hit Marikina anew

Robbers broke into a house in Marikina City on Thursday afternoon and not only ransacked the place but also raped two teenagers while the rest of the household members were locked up in a room, police said Friday.

Records showed that it was the fourth case of robbery with rape in the city since May.

City police chief Senior Supt. Gabriel Lopez said at least three men armed with knives and handguns barged into a house that had a sari-sari store in Sta. Teresita Village, Barangay Malanday.

They entered through the front door at around 4:30 p.m. and forced the occupants into a room after taking their cash, mobile phones and other gadgets.

“But the robbers were so daring that one of them even had time to rape two girls,” Lopez said.

Lopez said the rape victims were both minors aged 14 and 15 and one of them had just returned from school when assaulted.

On Friday, the girls identified two of the three robbers when shown photos of wanted crime suspects in the city, Lopez said.

On May 29, two men robbed a businesswoman’s house in Barangay Concepcion Uno, Marikina, and also raped her 16-year-old daughter.

Two weeks prior to that incident in the same barangay, two robbers who posed as Meralco employees barged into an architect’s house. Before leaving with the loot, one of them raped a member of the family.

In a similar case in Marikina recently, a domestic helper also was raped by robbers who targeted a house in Twinville Subdivision.

Lopez said one of the robbers who posed as Meralco collectors had been arrested and charged.

The latest incident on Thursday involved “a new set of robbers who are also residents of Barangay Malanday,” he said.