It all started one Friday morning when grandma was drying the laundry at the backyard. Then this Chinese couple stopped by. The man spoke to grandma in Tamil, and asked her if there was any house for rent nearby. While the man had grandma distracted with their conversation, the lady tried to slyly take off grandma's necklace that she was wearing. Grandma realized this and tried to grab her necklace back. But the effing man pushed grandma, and she fell into the drain. He and the lady then left, but not without taking grandma's ring as well.
Grandma is almost ninety and she could not get up by herself. She started crying for help. Thankfully a kind neighbour heard her and helped. The neighbour then called a distant relative and close family friend of ours who lives in the same lane to help out.
The daughter of the relative then phoned my parents. Mom was at home cooking and dad was at work. Dad was picking me up from school and rushed there straight away once he received the call. By the time we came, mom was already there. Grandma seemed fine and insisted she was, but mom and dad took her to the hospital anyway.
We then launched a police report. The police said they knew when to arrest the culprit, and that this was not the first time he robbed. Dad then went around asking friends who lived in the same area with that filthy human trash about him. It turned out he was a drug addict whose wife left him not too long ago, and he now lived with his mistress.
Dad often goes to Chinatown in Pokok Assam for his haircut or to buy snacks, and he often passes by that crook's house. Sometimes, he stares at the creep, just to make he know that people now are aware of his way of making a living. The crook never dared look back at dad.
You might think that the crook would now be too scared to even come near grandma. Well, you're wrong. A few months later, my aunt who lives with grandma was out watering the plants in the garden when this creep came with his motorcycle and stopped it right in front of the house opposite grandma's place. He then stared at the house for a few minutes, until my aunt realized he was there.
"Woi! Mahu curi lagikah?!" my aunt cried out at the top of her voice with agonizing anger. This attracted the other neighbour's attention. They quickly realized who the guy was. This is a good neighbourhood and crime rarely occurs. I dare say the incident involving grandma was a wake-up call for all the residents, and it was not easy to forget something like that ever happened in their own housing estate. All the neighbours who saw (or rather heard this) came out of their homes and tried to approach the crook. But the guy must have freaked out, and he zoomed away in his motorcycle.
I have no idea what took the police so long to arrest him. In fact, I don't think they arrested him at all. He does not live at his old place any longer. After stopping by at grandma place for the second time that day, we launched another police report. Dad asked why the crook had not been caught yet, and the officer on duty replied that his department had their own strategy and was waiting to carry out their plan. Huh?!
That is not the only time a grandma in my family got robbed. My other grandma from my mother's side also got robbed recently. And this time, the story is much more tragic!
There was the young guy who came to my grandparents house. He told my grandpa that he and his girlfriend were getting married in a simple ceremony at the waterfall temple at the foot of Maxwell Hill. Since both he and his girlfriend are supposedly orphans, there was no adults to bless them during the ceremony, and he wanted my grandma to follow him to the temple!
Alright! Both my grandparents did not know this guy at all and they have never seen them before in their whole lives! Grandma was not stupid enough to follow some stranger just like that. But grandpa, whose heart had grown weak (metaphorically, not literally) due to old age as my parents would say, coaxed grandma to follow this b**** to temple and bless his marriage. Finally, grandma obliged.
On their way via motorcycle, grandma told the crook that she knew the committee running the waterfall temple very well since one of her nephews was an active member there. Suddenly, the guy took another route and told grandma he was getting married in another temple. Grandma would have grown more suspicious by now.
The guy brought grandma all the way to a small lane heading towards King Edward school, the one near the district police headquarters with a church and a mosque, not too far away from Treacher Methodist school. The creep told grandma to get down from the motorcycle, and he threatened to kill her if she did not hand over all her jewelry to him at once.
Grandma panicked and started to weep. But people hardly use that lane even during peak hours due to the many construction work going on there. Nobody came to grandma's rescue. She handed over everything to that creep, and he left that poor old woman there all alone.
Fortunately, an uncle of mine was on his way back home after work. He usually would not use that lane because of all the construction sites, but for some reason he felt like using it on that particular afternoon. It was no doubt a blessing in disguise. The man must have been shocked to bits to see his elderly mother all alone there crying...
Poor grandma could hardly speak when my uncle asked her what she was doing there. She was stammering badly and tears kept flowing down her cheeks. My uncle quickly took her home. At night, the house was packed with family members and relatives. Everyone was shocked and angry at what had just happened. How can that creep have the heart to do such a thing to a helpless elderly woman?
My story does not necessarily imply that these criminals only target elderly woman. As we see in tabloids and on TV, anyone is a potential target. Even young women travelling in groups get attacked in broad daylight. Why, even men have been victimized before! Nobody is safe from these crooks. Their actions cannot be justified. I mean, come on! It is not right to push an elderly person into a drain, nor is it acceptable to con a helpless senior citizen. Curse these human trash! Curse them all until the day they repent! God bless...
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