Tourist stabbed and mugged in KL

Narinder Singh | October 14, 2013

Seasoned traveler Dave Ramsay from the UK vents his frustration on the net about the indifferent attitude of local police when reporting his horrifying ordeal

KUALA LUMPUR: As the crime rate in Malaysia rises, the public is feeling less secure walking down the streets these days. Even tourists have not been spared as more fall victims to muggings and snatch thefts.

One such incident left a backpacker, Dave Ramsay from Ayr, United Kingdom angry and annoyed as he was stabbed and mugged in the KL city center near Hard Rock Cafe on Oct 5.

In relating his horrifying experience on the VirtualTourist website (www.virtualtourist.com), Dave said that he was not only mugged but also stabbed in the chest in the incident. His ordeal is also being shared on Facebook.

“The mode of this mugging was to pull on a bag and when I turned round I was stabbed in the chest with a knife, while turning. This is a ‘stab-first-rob-later’ mode of attack,” related Dave.

Thinking that he has merely been punched, he went on to assist his female companion friend who was holding on to her bag, only to be slashed across his right arm. That was when he realised that his chest was bleeding.

He said: “At first I thought I had been punched, my friend held on to her bag and I started to assist only to be slashed with a knife across my right arm – that was when I saw blood oozing out my chest.”

He immediately told her to let the bag go as the knife was being held too near her neck. The robber managed to flee with the bag.

Dave said he was lucky to have survived the trauma for his build. According to him, had it happened to a slimmer person, it could have been fatal.

“I press 80kgs twice a week so my chest muscles reduced the penetration of the blade and it did not pass the rib cage. I think a slimmer person may have suffered a lung puncture and if it was on the heart side of the chest, a fatal wound,” said Dave.

‘Tourist police of no help’

He manage to get medical attention only after 30 minutes as many taxis refused to stop on seeing him bleeding.

In venting out his frustration, Dave said that there were no police in sight and even security personnel at the local venues were not helpful.

When lodging a report, he further lamented on the careless attitude of the tourist police.

“The tourist police did not ask anything about the perpetrator of this crime – all they did was produce a report for an insurance claim. They have no intention of pursuing criminals, no interest,” he said.

In frustration Dave described the police as being worse than criminals in this country and alleged they are being sheltered by politicians.

“I genuinely feel the police in KL are worse than the criminals because they are ineffective, not present and most likely getting a cut. The politicians are the police masters and I wonder how they make so much money.”

Having traveled extensively for almost 30 years as a backpacker including to Africa, Yemen and Southeast Asia, Dave said he is not a squeamish person but will not recommend anyone to travel to Malaysia.

In reiterating, he said: “I’m not a squeamish person but I genuinely believe this to be the most dangerous place I have been due to the number of incidents and the frequency of them…. it’s epidemic.”

VirtualTourist is a website that provides a platform for travelers to share their experiences and provide tips or advice to fellow tourists worldwide.