The severed palm that was found outside the shop in Kulim
KULIM : A grocery shop owner chopped off the left palm of a suspected robber who had threatened his mother with a machete in Kilang Lama here.
Two men wearing helmets had arrived on a motorcycle and had rushed into the shop at about 7.45pm on Wednesday and one of them held a metre-long machete to the 59-year-old woman.
The grocer said he was eating at the back of the shop while his mother was at the sales counter.
"One of them pressed a small knife at my waist while the other held the machete at my mother," the 34-year-old man said.
He said he was unsure what happened in the next few seconds but he managed to grab a knife and attacked the assailants. Several moments later the two men were seen rushing out of the shop.
"I don't know why they suddenly ran off until passers-by told me there was a severed palm lying on the five-foot-way outside my shop.
"I had no idea I had slashed him," the grocer said, adding that he suffered cuts on his ear and legs in the fight with the two men.
But the story was not over.
Two hours after the incident at the shop, the two suspects went to the Sungai Petani Hospital about 30km away.
They made-up a story about being robbery victims but policemen at the hospital did not believe them.
The man whose palm was severed was detained. The other managed to flee.
Kulim district police chief Supt Abdullah Arshad said the grocery shop owner made a police report about 10pm, almost the same time when the robbers went to the hospital.
"Of course, we would not blindly believe what they said. Their story was full of holes," said Supt Abdullah.
