Ex of murdered British woman killed by Philippines police

Herald online

12 Oct, 2016 07:28 PM2 mins to read

Maria Moynihan, right, with her sister Maritoni Fernandez.

The death of Maria Moynihan, the daughter of a British baron, has had a troubling sequel, with her former boyfriend being shot and killed by police in the Philippines, reports say.

Moynihan, who lived in the Philippines, was gunned down in Manila in September after being caught up in President Rodrigo Duterte's bloody war on drugs, which has claimed the lives of more than 3000 people.

Drug dealers and addicts have been killed by police and vigilante groups.

Now police say they have killed her former partner Leandro Antonio Kanahashi, 33, in a raid in Quezon the Philippine Star and local news site the Inquirer reported.

Police district chief Superintenant Guillermo Eleazar told media that Kanahashi was one of the last people Moynihan sent a text message to before she was killed by unidentified attackers.

The Guardian reports that Eleazar named Kanahashi as a "higher than street-level" drug dealer. He said that Moynihan's family confirmed the pair had been in a relationship.

Kanahashi died in a shoot-out with narcotics agents outside an apartment building and was found to be in possession of a pistol and 10 sachets of methamphetamine, the International Business Times reported.

Moynihan's body was discovered in a street with a placard propped up next to her reading: "Drug pusher to celebrities, you're next".

Police said the gun used to kill Moynihan was the same type as was used by Kanahashi, although ballistic tests have not been released, the Philippine Star reported.

Moynihan was the daughter of colourful British baron Antony Moynihan who settled in the Philippines in the 1960s following claims of fraud and gambling debts.