Runaway SUV driver charged with robbery, homicide

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Authorities have apprehended the SUV driver who drove away after allegedly stealing a cellphone and leaving the seller dead.

In a "24 Oras" report from Jun Veneracion on Friday, security footage showed 23-year-old Mohammad Sheikdugar and his girlfriend trying to stop an SUV from getting away at the parking lot of a bank.

Sheikdugar ended up hanging from the side of the SUV from Greenhills all the way to EDSA, Ortigas where the seller fell to the ground. While he was brought to the hospital, Sheikdugar died.

Authorities spent four days looking for the SUV driver, eventually finding him in Pasong Tamo, Quezon City. He had been using the same SUV used in the incident.

“Through our back-and-forth tracking sa mga CCTVs, dahil dito natunton natin itong sasakyan na ginamit ng ating suspek… Wala naman po resistance on the part of the suspect, sumama naman po siya nang maayos,” Mandaluyong City Police Station Officer-in-charge PCol. Rey Ochavo said.

(Through our back-and-forth tracking in the CCTVs, because of this, we pinpointed the vehicle used by our suspect… There was no resistance on the part of the suspect; he came with us peacefully.)

According to the police investigation, the suspect agreed to buy the cellphone from Sheikdugar for P56,000. After he got the phone, he took Sheikdugar and his girlfriend to a bank to supposedly withdraw.

The SUV driver confused Sheikdugar and his girlfriend, tricking them into leaving the car and removing the barriers at the parking lot. When the SUV driver tried to drive away, Sheikdugar clung to the side of the vehicle.

Sheikdugar’s family is now demanding justice, especially since he had been the family’s breadwinner for four years ever since their father died.

“Breadwinner po siya…siya po nagpapa-aral sa bunso ko. Napaka-super bait po…sana nasa paraiso na siya,” the victim’s mother Muslima Sarib Sheikdugar said. (He is a breadwinner… He was the one funding the studies of my youngest. He is super kind… I hope he is in paradise.)

Sheikdugar’s girlfriend is also seeking justice, as he was working honestly.

The suspect is facing charges of robbery and homicide, but he declined to give a statement.

The Mandaluyong Police also discovered that the suspect was involved in gas-in-run incidents, wherein he would not pay for the gas at the station.

“Meron pa pong nag-viral na naka-post po doon ang kanyang sasakyan na hindi nagbayad sa isang gasoline station… Dalawang beses niya po itong ginawa, isa noong June sa Quezon City at itong pinaka-latest nitong October 17 po,” Ochavo said.

(There was something that went viral where his vehicle was posted there that he was not paying in one gas station… He did this twice: once in June in Quezon City and the latest one was October 17.)

The suspect is the registered owner of the SUV. The Land Transportation Office has summoned him to explain in its own investigation.—Jean Mangaluz/LDF, GMA News