Chinese tourist robbed by cab driver who hit her with tire iron

A Chinese woman who had just arrived in the country ended up in the hospital on Wednesday morning after she was mugged and robbed allegedly by the driver of the taxi she took from the airport.

Chen Jun, 44, had to be stitched up by doctors at Quirino Memorial Medical Center after the cab driver hit her repeatedly on the head with a tire iron, police said. He then took her valuables, leaving her behind in the taxi which he also abandoned on the southbound lane of Katipunan Avenue near Aurora Boulevard in Barangay Escopa 3, Project 4, Quezon City.

A check with the cab company identified the driver of the Sir Anthony Transport Service taxi (UVZ 437) as Simeon Abad.

“Most of her wounds were on the head. The suspect could have fled to his old neighborhood in Barangay Escopa 3 or escaped to [his] province,” Quezon City Police District Project 4 station commander Supt. Danilo Pecana told the Inquirer.

According to Pecana, Chen arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Pasay City around 4 a.m. on Wednesday and flagged down a taxicab to bring her to a bus terminal in Cubao where she planned to catch a ride to Dau, Pampanga.

The cab driver, however, took her to Barangay Escopa 3 where he tried to grab her bag which contained her possessions, including her passport, as he was driving.

As they wrestled for possession of the bag, the cab driver lost control of the vehicle which hit the gutter.

“The suspect took out a tire wrench and started beating the victim with it until she let go of her bag,” Pecana said, adding that the driver then escaped.

Some Metropolitan Manila Development Authority personnel saw the victim inside the abandoned taxi and brought her to the hospital.