KOTA KINABALU: Police are still investigating into the case of a Middle Eastern man who allegedly assaulted two local women and a Canadian man at a backpackers lodge in the city about ten days ago.
Although a search for the suspect has begun, it is understood that personal details of the man were not fully available to the police.
City police chief ACP Ahmad Sofi Zakaria said there were no signs of the assailant as yet and the police could not establish if he had left the state.
“However, we are monitoring all the exit points, including the airport.
“At this moment we only have a description of his looks and name,” he said, adding they had yet to ascertain his nationality.
The case is currently being investigated under Section 323 of the Penal Code for voluntarily causing grievous hurt.
The assault allegedly took place on February 9 around 6.30pm when the suspect attacked a receptionist of the backpackers lodge and two other tourists.
The incident was posted on YouTube where parts of the attack showed the Middle Eastern man slapping a receptionist of the lodge, Dewina Jolilin, 22.
It also shows the assailant moving to hit the Canadian man’s girlfriend.
The tourist, Daniel Gunn, 30, had claimed that the assailant, who was also staying at the lodge, became angry when Gunn had kissed his girlfriend from Peninsular Malaysia on the cheek at the common area of the lodge.
Gunn said that the assailant began to shout “this is a public place”, “bring your prostitute somewhere else” and also “this is an Islamic country and not your country”.
Gunn tried to calm him down but he got angrier and at that point Dewina confronted the assailant who then scolded her before hitting her.
At this point, Gunn’s girlfriend told the assailant that he cannot hit “a woman” and he then attacked her also before Gunn tried to keep him away from the others.
The assailant then stormed out of the lodge and left in a taxi.
According to Dewina, she was not the one who checked him in but he had claimed to another staff that he was an Arab.
He had paid a deposit for a four-day stay at the lodge when he checked in on February 6, she added, claiming that the suspect had also told the staff that he had planned to stay in Sabah for a month.
Meanwhile, Sofi said police were quick in responding after they received the report, which contradicted a claim made by the Sabah Backpackers Operators Association that police were not proactive when receiving the report.
“Police are always proactive in assisting the community in handling all lodged cases from time to time,” he said, adding that police arrived at the place about 14 minutes later to investigate but the suspect had already left the lodge.