MELAKA, April 23 — A lemang seller was arrested for assaulting a buyer, who claimed that he had bought lemang which was not properly cooked, in an incident at a roadside stall on Jalan Bukit Beruang Utama, near a petrol station on Friday (April 21).
Melaka Tengah district police chief, ACP Christopher Patit, said in the 8pm incident, the victim, a 61-year-old military veteran, suffered injuries to his left ear and right hand, due to being hit with a hollowed bamboo stick, and was treated at Melaka Hospital.
Before the incident, the victim went to the lemang stall to exchange lemang which he had bought in the morning because it was found to be not properly cooked.
“Upon arriving at the stall, the victim claimed that he had shown the uncooked lemang he bought to the 40-year-old seller, but the latter refused to look at it.
“The lemang seller then split open one of the lemang bought by the complainant, and showed that the lemang was fully cooked before a verbal fight ensued between them which led to the alleged assault,” he said in a statement here today.
Patit said during the incident, the lemang seller also hit the victim with a bamboo stick on the left ear and right hand.
The initial investigation found that the incident occurred as the suspect claimed that the victim threw the uncooked lemang at him, making him angry. He claimed that the victim also wanted to upload a video of the incident, which was recorded so that people would not come to his stall.
The suspect was then arrested at Jalan Kota at about 12.15am on Saturday (April 22), but was released on police bail after his statement was recorded.
Patit said the investigation is ongoing, and the investigation papers will be referred to the Deputy Public Prosecutor for further action.
Yesterday, a 29-second long video clip of the incident went viral on social media, showing the action of the lemang seller assaulting the victim with a bamboo stick and hurling abusive words.
— Bernama
