Mhelody Polan Bruno ("Mhel")
Age 2522 Sep 2019
Wagga Wagga, New South Wales (Australia)
Strangled
TDoR list ref: tgeu/21-Sep-2019/Mhelody Polan Bruno
Mhelody was killed while on vacation in Australia. Her friends claim that she was raped before being killed.
MANILA, Philippines – A Filipina transgender woman was killed in Australia while on vacation, her family confirmed to Rappler on Thursday, September 26.
Mhelody Polan Bruno, 25, has been in Australia for at least 2 months and was set to go home on September 28. But a week before her departure she was killed.
"Pauwi na siya sa Pilipinas sa 28, kaso noong 22 po nawawala po siya (She was on her way home to the Philippines on the 28th, but she went missing on the 22nd)," Leonel Bruno, Mhelody's eldest brother told Rappler in a phone interview.
Mhelody was killed in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales in Australia on September 22. They have received scant information with regards to how she was killed.
Mheloldy was a Philippine citizen who worked as a call center agent in Makati City, Metro Manilla and had been due to fly home on 28th September. NSW police confirmed that a man has been arrested and charged with manslaughter.
Ambulance officers were called to a unit on Tarcutta Street about 8am on Saturday. Paramedics stabilised her at the scene, but she died the next morning at Wagga Wagga Base Hospital
A 31-year-old Wagga Wagga man was arrested on Sunday afternoon. He was charged with manslaughter and bailed to appear in Wagga Wagga local court on 6 November.
Mhelody has been on vacation in Australia since July, Leonel said. She worked as a call center agent in Makati City.
Leonel described Mhelody as their de-facto breadwinner as most of their family stay in the province of Surigao del Sur. Their father is a farmer and their mother is a secretary in a barangay hall. Mhelody had been sending money home and had planned to build a new house in the province.
Mhelody's Facebook profile is https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100007809555494.
https://www.rappler.com/nation/241217-man-arrested-charged-killing-transgender-filipina-australia
https://www.rappler.com/nation/241110-transgender-filipina-killed-australia-while-on-vacation
