Suspected robber dies in hospital after beating

MANILA, Philippines — A suspected robber died in a hospital Monday night, barely 12 hours after about 20 people beat him up after he allegedly snatched the cellular phone of a security guard in Tondo, Manila.

Alfredo Simbulan, 44, was pronounced dead at 6 p.m. on Monday at Gat Andres Bonifacio Memorial Medical Center in Tondo while he was being treated for head and body injuries he sustained earlier in the day when a group of men attacked him. According to attending physician Dr. Crismelo Puno, the victim died due to traumatic brain injury.

Homicide investigator Police Officer 3 Marlon San Pedro said the fatality grabbed the cellular phone of Edwin Arrogante while the latter was walking along CM Recto Avenue corner Ilaya Street around 6 a.m. Arrogante told the authorities that he was able to ask help from a group of bystanders in the area who chased the escaping Simbulan.

“The rob victim estimated that around 20 men helped in punching Simbulan on different parts of his body,” San Pedro said.

Police Officer 1 Christopher Dante Tañada, who was assigned to the Juan Luna police community precinct in Binondo and happened to be passing by the area, noticed the incident and stopped the men from further hurting the suspected thief. He noted that the crowd of attackers immediately dispersed when he approached them.

Tañada was also able to bring the complainant and the still conscious Simbulan to the nearest police precinct where the latter returned the stolen MyPhone unit to Arrogante.

Simbulan, according to the homicide investigator, was immediately brought to the hospital because of the wounds all over his body. The attending doctor told investigators that Simbulan was initially responding to treatment but he eventually succumbed to severe head injuries.

Manila Police District homicide division Chief Inspector Steve Casimiro told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that Simbulan’s attackers face criminal charges for the victim’s death but he noted that no one from the group of men was identified by the responding policeman and the robbery victim.

“There were also no witnesses who could describe how the men looked like or where they escaped after the mauling,” the homicide division chief added.

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