MojoE: Fact or Fiction?

This extracted from myMetro, the online newspaper, translated by me (sorry for the poor translation),

IPOH: Purely on the notion that they were unhappy with the prices offered by a cobbler, a group of international students from Universiti Teknologi Petronas (UTP) in Seri Iskandar, savagely beat up a cobbler while he was having a meal at a restaurant last night.
Roughly about 8.45 p.m., the victim, Zalmi Abdul Ghani, 35, was having a meal at a restaurant beside his shop in Taman Maju, Seri Iskandar, when he was suddenly attacked by around 10-12 Egyptian students who came in two cars.

“I was having dinner with one of my friends that night when that group of students without warning, suddenly rushed towards our direction and attacked us with sticks.

“The only thing my friend and I could do, was to use our hands to protect our heads from being hit.

“After a few minutes, these students escaped the scene in two cars. Sadly, not even one of the locals helped us before my friend and I went to Hospital Changkat Melintang for treatment,” said Zalmi when he was contacted by Harian Metro yesterday.

Zalmi, the father of four, said that he managed to identify one of his attackers because two days prior to the alleged incident (last Tuesday), the alleged suspect came to his shop to get three pairs of shoes mended.
“I know that the (alleged) suspect is a student from UTP he always comes here. last Tuesday, he (the alleged suspect) came to my shop to mend three pairs of shoes that were spoiled at their soles. “He inquired about the price and I told him that the price is roughly RM 15 per pair.

“Whereas on the other hand I have charged RM3 for another pair of shoes that had only minor damage to the soles, but the (alleged) suspect got angry and told me that the price was exorbitant, and asked me to lower the price to RM 20,” said Zalmi.

Zalmi said, he asked the alleged suspect to go to another shop nearby to inquire about the prices. “He went away for a while but after about 10 minutes later, he came back to my shop and demanded that I fix his shoes for RM 20,”

According to Zalmi, when the alleged suspect came back to his shop the second time, there was another customer who was in the shop. When he (the customer) saw the behavior of the alleged suspect which was demanding and utterly disrespectful towards Zalmi, he (the customer) asked the suspect to leave.

“At that point, the (alleged) suspect began to hurl abuse at me in English, but I ignored him (the alleged suspect),"

“But I lost my cool when the (alleged) suspect shouted ‘f** Malaysia’. “I lost my patience and grabbed the suspect's hand, and together with another friend and warned him not to speak in that manner,” said Zalmi.

According to him (Zalmi), the suspect got into his car and after making a U-turn, stopped in front of his shop and warned that he would return while performing a vulgar gesture.

“The most disappointing thing was that the UTP management instead persuaded me to retract my police report that night simply because they did not want this to be a big issue,” said Zalmi.