By: V. Shankar Ganesh

KLANG, MALAYSIA: A robbery suspect was handcuffed and left at the mercy of his would be victims while police went looking for his accomplice in a case of misplaced priorities on Friday.

Mohd Azrul Ishak was found lying on the road in a semi-conscious state by the arresting officers when they returned minutes later with the second robbery suspect.

The injured man was rushed to Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital here but died a day later without regaining consciousness.

A post-mortem revealed he died of head injuries.

Azrul's elder brother Mohd Hazar Ishak, 39, is now crying for justice, claiming his brother was defenceless as he was beaten to death by a mob when he should have been protected by the policemen who had handcuffed him.
The incident occurred last Friday at Tanjung Harapan in Port Klang, when Azrul was arrested by four policemen about 1am after an attempted robbery report.

Two men allegedly tried to rob a group of motorcyclists at knifepoint but failed. The suspects fled the scene but the policemen, who were on patrol in the area, nabbed Azrul and handcuffed him.

While interrogating him, the policemen received word that the second suspect was spotted nearby.

The four then left Azrul by the roadside and went looking for the second suspect.

Hazar said when the policemen returned with the second suspect, they found his brother barely alive. He was rushed to hospital and was admitted to the intensive care unit.

"I rushed there and saw that he was in a coma. He died the next day without regaining consciousness."

He said his brother only had a small cut above the left eyebrow but doctors told him that he died of head injuries.

Hazar believed his brother was beaten up by a group of motorcyclists.

Hazar met the district police chief and other police officers on Monday.

"They admitted that the policemen were negligent to have left him alone. The police chief also promised that disciplinary action would be taken against those responsible."

He said Azrul was a problematic person who was always in trouble with the law.

"I had handed him to the police before, hoping he would be reformed.

"All that now seems to have been in vain.

"I can't imagine what he went through. He was handcuffed and was bashed up.

"He couldn't even defend himself.

"Nobody deserves to die like this. He was my younger brother and I wanted the best for him."

Hazar said his mother was devastated to learn that her son suffered such a cruel death.

He urged an independent body to investigate the case.

Hazar lodged a police report on Monday in Shah Alam and would be lodging another report at the district police headquarters here today.