Thursday July 12, 2012

Heartless passers-by

Reports by LOURDES CHARLES, CHRISTINA CHIN, STEVEN CHIEW, CHONG KAH YUAN and HAFIZ MARZUKHI

GEORGE TOWN: Seven people walked past snatch theft victim Tan Kim Chuan (pic), 60, without lifting a finger to help her as she lay unconscious on the road with a cracked skull at the Rifle Range flats.

CCTV footage showed her lying on the road for about seven minutes (see sequence of events below).

Kim Chuan, who fell and knocked her head on the road in the 6.02am incident on Tuesday, succumbed to her injuries nine hours later at the Penang Hospital.

Her sister Lay Yong, 63, wants the passers-by “to listen to their conscience”.

“Those who saw her should have done something the least they could have done was shout for help.

“How could they have just walked by? I am angry but what can I do?” Lay Yong said at the Penang Hospital mortuary yesterday.

Tears flow: Investigating officer Asst Supt Wong Yeut Oon sharing Lay Yong’s painful loss at the Penang Hospital mortuary.

She said Kim Chuan was on her way to the family-owned coffeeshop in Carnarvon Street.

She would take the bus every morning to help out at the coffeeshop.

“My sister was the sort of person who would not hesitate to help others. The snatch thief who did this to her was heartless,” she said.

Kim Chuan, a widow who had just moved into the Rifle Range flats two weeks ago, was walking alone near Block J of the flats when her handbag was snatched by a motorcyclist.

At about 6.10am, three good Samaritans lifted her to the side of the road and called for an ambulance.

Sequence of events.

Penang Hospital Department of Forensic Medicine head Datuk Dr Zahari Noor said the post-mortem showed the cause of death was multiple injuries to the head.

“She suffered internal bleeding in the head and the back of her skull cracked when she fell and hit the road the impact was strong,” he said.

The body will be cremated in Batu Gantong at 2pm today.

Meanwhile, George Town OCPD Asst Comm Gan Kong Meng urged the public to help police in catching the suspect.

“As we are unable to be everywhere at the same time, we value the information from the public, especially from those who may have witnessed the incident,” he told reporters after paying his last respects to Kim Chuan at the Mount Erskine funeral parlour.

He also advised the public to always offer help to those in need.

“A swifter response could have saved her life,” said ACP Gan.

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