Bizarre turn to husband-wife dispute
Neighbour steps in, takes matters into his own hands
What was supposed to be a domestic dispute between a husband and wife over an unkempt house and unwashed clothes descended into a bizarre summary disciplining by a stranger.
To make it worse, the severe beating was recorded by another man and uploaded on Facebook.
The 52-year-old odd-job labourer, Khor Meng Heong, was reprimanding his wife at their house in Klang when an elderly man who was passing by asked her what had happened.
He also gave a hard stare at Khor which angered him, prompting him to shout some profanity at the elderly man.
In the one-minute, 44-second video, a man was seen beating Khor in front of his pleading wife and child.
He was also forced to kneel in front of the attacker, before being mercilessly beaten.
Midway through the beating, the victim fell to the ground, writhing in pain.
The beating continued with multiple canings to the body and legs. The victim was made to kneel again, before the video finally stopped playing.
There were bruises all over the victim’s shoulders and buttocks, besides other noticeable injury marks on other parts of the body.
Bukit Aman corporate communications chief Senior Asst Comm Datin Asmawati Ahmad confirmed the incident in a statement released yesterday.
“The incident occurred on Sept 6 and the suspect has been identified as the complainant’s neighbour. Efforts to track down the suspect is underway,” she said.
She said the victim had sought treatment at Hospital Tengku Ampuan Rahimah.
Investigations showed that Khor, the sole breadwinner earning a meagre RM1,000 a month, was finding it hard to make ends meet.
He has to support his wife and two sons, aged 14 and 11.
Khor said his landlord had told him to move out of their rented house as he wanted the premises back.
“He gave me until Sept 7, but I asked for an extension as we have a lot of things to pack,” he said.
Khor said he lost his cool that morning when he found there were a lot of things still unpacked and a big pile of dirty laundry.
“We needed to get everything done in the next day or two to move to a RM200 a month room in the same area.
“I told my wife that I will either burn or dump all the unwashed clothes as we do not have much time left,” he added.
Lee Seng Kieow, the 48-year-old wife, then ran out of the house with some of the unwashed clothes, and that’s when the tirade with the elderly man started.
About five minutes after the elderly man left the scene after being scolded by Khor, a younger man came into the house wielding the cane and forced Khor to kneel down before caning him.
“He told me the elderly man was his father and started hitting me,” said Khor.
Khor said the incident had taken a big toll on him as he was already going through a stressful and difficult time.
“My eldest son, who is 14, is mentally disabled after being hit by a motorbike when he was six. I have to worry about him as well as the welfare of my other son,” said Khor.
Community Policing Malaysia founder Kuan Chee Heng condemned the brutal caning of Khor.
Kuan said he would be monitoring the case as well as arranging assistance for Khor and his family.