By Celine Lim

THE memory of being stabbed in the back during a failed robbery still haunts her.

Tears well up each time she recalls what happened on 30 July.

Madam Teng Soon Moey, 56, was attacked outside her hotel room at casino resort First World Hotel in Genting Highlands at about 7am.

"I was very, very scared when I realised there was a knife plunged into my back," she recalled.

"I thought I would die."

She was rushed to a hospital in Kuala Lumpur (KL) immediately after the incident, but is now back in Singapore.

She arrived in an ambulance at about 7pm on Friday, accompanied by her daughter, Ms Eunice Tay, who had flown to KL to be with her mother after being informed by hospital staff about the attack.

Ms Tay, 30, a rugby development manager, said her mother was taken to the Mount Elizabeth Hospital, where she underwent a series of scans and blood tests for her "irregular heartbeat".

She had suffered a mild heart attack soon after the incident.

The attacker, a 42-year-old Malaysian woman, had run off when her mother screamed. She was arrested within seven hours on the same day.

Doctors in KL said that the knife, which had been plunged 5cm into Madam Teng's back, had narrowly missed her spine and heart.

The New Paper had reported the incident on Tuesday.

Madam Teng said: "I'm feeling much better, but there's still pain even though the tubes (inserted to help her breathe) have been removed, as the doctors had to stitch up the wounds."

Ms Tay said the rest of her family flew to KL on Monday to visit her mother.

When they were packing to return to Singapore, Madam Teng asked her son to throw away the red handbag that her attacker had tried to snatch.

Ms Tay said: "My mum told us that she didn't want to see the bag anymore.

"Every time she thinks about the incident, she will tear. She said her head feels very 'heavy' and her thoughts are very disorganised."

The attacker had entered the same lift as Madam Teng and followed her to the hotel room door before stabbing her.

"Maybe we'll seek psychiatric help for her later," said Ms Tay.

"For now, the doctors said her heart is still unstable, and she has to be warded as they are afraid she'll have a heart attack if she leaves."

It is unlikely that Madam Teng will return to Genting again.

She said: "There are metal detectors that every one has to pass through to enter the casino, so why was the knife not detected"

"Or if it was, why was the woman allowed in with the knife?"

Dato Anthony Yeo, the senior vice-president of public relations and communications of Genting Malaysia Berhad, assured Singaporean visitors that the resort is safe, adding that the incident was an isolated case and the culprit was captured within seven hours.

"All entries to the casinos have two to three security personnel at any time to monitor guests entering the casino. There is also the security sensor at all entrances to detect metal (objects) and all sensors are in good working condition," he said.

He added that all hotel floors are equipped with security cameras and designated security floor patrols which do hourly checks 24 hours a day.

Spot checks are also conducted at lift landing areas, and there are security cameras in lifts as well.

He declined to speculate on how the attacker made it past security with a knife because investigations are still ongoing.

The company is helping the police with the investigations.

When asked how the hotel had assisted Madam Teng after the stabbing, he said that two duty managers, a doctor and a security team sent Madam Teng to the nearest hospital using the resort's ambulance within 25 minutes.

They were accompanied by an in-house nurse.

On compassionate grounds, the company has asked Madam Teng's family to send the medical report and bills for their review.

cellsf@sph.com.sg

This article was first published in The New Paper.