A policeman escorts a bloodied Reniel Villacampa, who tried to rob a student on N. Bacalso Avenue, Cebu City.(CDN/JUNJIE MENDOZA)
A 22-YEAR-OLD nursing student was injured after a construction worker assaulted her in a robbery attempt in Cebu City yesterday morning.
The suspect, identified as Reniel Villacampa, 35, dragged Nieza Abarca to the middle of the road while pointing a broken bottle at her neck.
Abarca was rescued by bystanders, who mobbed Villacampa. Abarca was wounded in the neck.
The incident happened in front of the office of the National Police Commission on N. Bacalso Avenue.
Abarca had come from the Salazar Institute of Technology, where she is enrolled as a second year nursing student. She was waiting for a jeepney ride with a friend when Villacampa suddenly grabbed her by the neck.
The suspect demanded money from the victim, said Chief Insp. Arthur dela Rosa, chief of the Punta Princesa Police Station.
“I begged him to release me. I told him to just get my bag since there was money inside but he kept looking for a taxi,” said Abarca in Cebuano.
SPO4 Jelson Solibio, who was having lunch nearby, said he checked on the commotion after two men alerted him of a hostage drama.
Solibio said it took at least five minutes before the student was rescued. Some bystanders found the chance to rescue the girl when the man accidentally dropped the broken bottle.
Villacampa sustained bruises in the face after he was lynched. He said he wasn’t trying to rob Abarca. He said he just asked her to help him get a vehicle so he could go home to Bacolod.
“I lost my cellphone. I haven’t eaten in the past three days. Nothing was left of my P2,000 salary because I tried going home but I couldn’t find my way,” he said in mixed Cebuano and Ilonggo.
Villacampa said he has been staying in Cebu for the past three months. His contract as a construction worker has expired.