Man shot in Philippines marries '˜love of his life'

He married Ange Bacaron on Saturday, August 5 at St Thomas de Villanueva Catholic church in Cebu city.

His best man Chris McLaughlin, from Bearsden, has stayed with him since the horrific incident.

Tarek was shot in the chest by robbers in the early hours of July 20 when he was sitting outside a bar in Cebu with his fiancee and Chris.

He was due to wed Ange, who is from Cebu, on Saturday, July 22 but instead he ended up in intensive care fighting for his life. Tarek, a joiner, met Ange in Sweden where he’d been working recently and says she is ‘the love of his life’.

He had wanted to get married from his hospital bed but Ange thought it should be postponed until he was well enough to walk down the aisle.

He was still in a lot of pain on their wedding day because the bullet had landed in his spine and ricochet off so it hurt each time he took a breath.

The mother of the best man, Alice Hewitt Duffy, who lives in Kessington, Bearsden, had flown over to the Philippines for the wedding.

She was going to walk Tarek down the aisle as it’s the local tradition for men to be accompanied by a parent and his are no longer alive.

She said: “I’d just arrived after a long flight and I was exhausted so I didn’t join them for a drink.

“They didn’t want to go too far from me so they were just across the street.

“The area wasn’t great, there were no tourists there, and my gut feeling was that it was dangerous.

“People looked so poor and miserable and there were street dogs everywhere.

“I didn’t feel safe and we had already agreed to move to a different hotel the next day.”

Alice was horrified to hear that Tarek had been shot and she says he is lucky to be alive.

She added: “It’s a miracle that the bullet didn’t hit his heart - it landed at the bottom of his lung.

“The surgeons kept saying how lucky he was be alive.

“I just kept thinking how unlucky he was to be shot.

“If it had gone a few inches the other way he may not have survived.”

Tarek has made a miraculous recovery but Alice says he’s still incredibly thin and weak.

Chris is going on honeymoon with the couple to help look after Tarek and they plan to visit some of the Philippine islands to relax.

Friends and family are still collecting donations for Tarek’s medical bills as they have had to pay upfront for all the treatment he’s received. To donate please visit www.gofundme.com/TarekNaggar.