Man Dies After Trying to Take on Three Robbers

From The Star 4 May 2010:

Good Samaritan stabbed to death during robbery
By M. SIVANANTA SHARMA

NIBONG TEBAL: A bachelor, responding to a cry for help from his elderly neighbour, ended up dead after he was knifed by a robber at Jalan Selamat in Sungai Bakap here.

Unemployed Mohamad Faizal Mohamad Zin, 27, had rushed over to his neighbour Husin Abdul Rahman’s home around 1.45pm yesterday upon hearing screams and saw three intruders, one of them wielding a knife.

He confronted the robbers but was stabbed repeatedly.

Mohamad Faizal collapsed and died.

The three men then fled the scene.

Initial investigations revealed that the three men had gone to Husin’s house and one of them asked for a glass of water, said OCPD Supt Shafien Mamat.

Husin, 84, invited them into the house.

When Husin brought the water from the kitchen, one of them shoved him into a room where he was gagged with a piece cloth.

The man then assaulted the old man while his accomplices stood outside in the living room.

Just before he was gagged, Husin managed to shout for help, a cry that Mohamad Faizal responded to.

The body of Mohamad Faizal was sent to Sungai Bakap Hospital for a post-mortem, while Husin was treated there for minor injuries.

The suspects managed to steal RM700 from a drawer in Husin’s house.

Supt Shafien urged eye-witnesses or those with information to contact the nearest police station.

One against three? The one is unarmed, and one of the three has a knife? Those aren’t favourable odds, even for a martial artist.

If it were a life-or-death situation that you’re already embroiled in, by all means fight for your life! But in this case, the old man wasn’t in danger of grievous harm – and certainly wasn’t a woman about to be raped – so the best course of action would have been to retreat to a safe place and raise the alarm or call the police.

I commemd Mohamad Faizal’s selfless, helpful and heroic attitude which I believe far, far more Malaysians could do with. However, know what you’re getting yourself into before headstrongly charging into trouble.

Like this other, less fatal case of trying to stop a crime in progress. And a rather sillier case of not knowing how to pick your fights.