The victim, with blood on his shirt, and his wife, after the attempted robbery at the 1 Utama car park on Monday. Pix taken from Facebook
An elderly businessman required nine stitches to his upper lip after being punched by a robber in the car park of the 1 Utama shopping centre here on Monday.
The incident occurred about 10pm when the 69-year-old victim, who owns a branded sports-apparel outlet in the complex, was walking towards his car with his wife at the lower ground level indoor car park.
District police chief Assistant Commissioner Arjunaidi Mohamed said the robber tried to grab a bag the victim was carrying and in the ensuing struggle, the victim was punched in his face.
"The victim's wife cried for help and the shouts attracted the attention of other shoppers. One of the shoppers contacted police while the suspect fled empty-handed."
The suspect acted alone. He was not masked or armed.
Arjunaidi said police were checking closed-circuit television camera footage to identify the suspect.
He visited the shopping complex yesterday to discuss how to improve security. More CCTVs facing the exits may be set up.
1 Utama's security and safety operations manager Santa Singh said they had 200 guards, including 120 assigned to the parking areas.
"We believe the suspect thought the victim was carrying a lot of cash and targeted him."
The incident was the fourth reported attack at shopping complex car parks in the Klang Valley in the past two months.
The previous incidents were at the car park of The Curve and Mid Valley Megamall shopping complexes. One incident was reported at a car park outside 1 Utama. In all three cases, the victims were women.
On May 27, an Internet marketeer was abducted by two men at The Curve. She escaped by jumping out of her car. A week later, a woman outside 1 Utama was driven at knife-point to a nearby automated teller machine to withdraw money.
On June 22, a woman was slashed and robbed by a man at the Mid Valley Megamall car park.
