An elderly woman in Malacca who reportedly complained about a glamorous camping (glamping) site burning rubbish was assaulted by a young man who is related to the site's owners.
The assault was caught on CCTV, and went viral after the woman's granddaughter posted it on social media.
Police have since arrested the assailant who is related to the owners of The Baruh Glamping camping site.
In the video, the unnamed 26-year-old man is seen chasing the 76-year-old woman, grabbing a stick from her, and hitting her multiple times, including a strike to the back of her head which caused her to fall.
The senior citizen, whose surname is Tan, subsequently lodged a police report over the matter.
Tan identified her assailant as the son of The Baruh Glamping's owner. Police separately identified the man as the grandson of the site's owner.
In a statement, police identified the 26-year-old as the grandson of the owner of the camping site, while a police report filed by the victim stated that the youth was the son of the owner.
Police said that the elderly woman also suffered soft-tissue injuries from the attack.
Tan and The Baruh Glamping occupy neighbouring lots in Tanjung Kling, Malacca.
According to a copy of the police report Malaysiakini sighted, as well Tan's maternal granddaughter - who only wanted to be identified by her surname Tai - there was a dispute between the senior citizen and The Baruh Glamping over alleged open burning by the latter.
Numerous complaints
Speaking to Malaysiakini, Tai alleged that the camps have been open burning garbage all year round.
She said that her grandmother suffered from cancer and was in poor health, and the smog caused by neighbour's open burning garbage would further harm her health.
She said at first, they tried to communicate with their neighbour, and also tried to report it to the police and the Environment Department, but they were unable to stop the neighbors from continuing to burn their rubbish.
Tai said that although the Environment Department has reportedly issued a warning letter to the camp, it has not brought about substantial changes.
Instead, she alleged that the camp has intensified its efforts from burning garbage twice a week in the beginning to burning garbage almost every day now.
"We talked nicely at the beginning and wanted to solve it in a more civilized way, and we have been patient.
"Usually we would also advise grandma not to scold back and tell her not to walk out on her own.
"But yesterday we were not at home, and the smoke they burned blew into the house. That's why grandma went to confront them and told them to stop burning garbage," she said.
Melaka Tengah district police chief Christopher Patit in a statement today, said the assault began after Tan confronted the site owners about the open burning.
The Baruh Glamping, however, disputed Tai and Tan's version of events.
In a post this morning, it accused the elderly Tan of assaulting a 70-year-old woman who worked for them.
Claiming self-defence, they also claimed that they had only acted to chase away the senior citizen and seize her stick to prevent her from causing more harm.
The post did not address the open burning claims.
Instead, the camping site said that their domestic trash is collected by the local council daily.
They also claimed that contrary to Tan's claims, they keep their camping site clean to ensure that there are no snakes or wild animals for mutual safety.
"Instead, we are accused of littering," they lamented.
When contacted, the Baruh Glamping camp told Malaysiakini through text message that they had also filed a police report and would leave the matter to the police. - Mkini
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