By Kalbana Perimbanayagam

PETALING JAYA, MALAYSIAN: The 19-year-old Malaysian battered by youths in Melbourne, Australia, last Friday has lost some of his memory and is undergoing mental rehabilitation.

Kevindra Joseph, a mechanical engineering student at RMIT, has come out of an induced coma at the Royal Melbourne Hospital but does not remember the attack that almost took his life.

His father, Prof Datuk Joseph Adaikalam, said medical authorities wanted to monitor his son's health for at least three weeks.

"He is conscious now and undergoing mental rehabilitation at the hospital. His memory has lapsed and he doesn't remember much. Even the attack is totally wiped out of his mind," said the Vice-Chancellor of Binary University College when met at his office in Puchong, yesterday.

Joseph, who just returned from Melbourne, thanked God that Kevindra was alive despite the brutal attack.

"I really don't want what happened to my son to happen to anyone else. My son is a very timid boy. He has always stayed out of trouble. We are really surprised about the attack. Maybe he was at the wrong place at the wrong time."

The incident occurred as Kevindra was asking a friend for directions on a mobile phone after being lost in Little Lonsdale Street at 2.50am after supper with four friends.

The undergraduate, who had been in Australia for about a month, was found unconscious on a footpath and believed to have been assaulted by a group of five youths of Asian origin.

He said Kevindra had been keen about studying in Melbourne as some of his cousins were there.

"Besides, he was living with my sister-in-law there and enjoyed being there."

When asked if Kevindra would continue his studies in Melbourne after this, Joseph said it was best for him to defer a term before considering whether to continue at the same university.

"Even when I spoke to him at the hospital, he was worried about missing his lessons. He is determined to finish his degree in Melbourne, but then it all depends on his health," said Joseph, who will be returning to Melbourne to be with his son in a few days.

Joseph said his wife Rohini Devi and daughter Angela Joseph were taking turns to look after Kevindra.

Joseph said Australian police had gathered CCTV footage from the scene but only managed to get a clear view of two of the four attackers.

"I was allowed to view the footage except for the part where my son was battered.

"From the footage, I could see that the suspects looked Asian and all of them were young.

"They looked like they were in their early 20's," he said, adding that two of the photographs were released to the Australian media.

"The investigator said an eyewitness had also come forward to help in the case."

Rohini, who flew in to be with Kevindra as soon as she heard of the incident, also went on national television in Australia with a plea for the culprits to be brought to book.

She broke down in tears while relating her son's ordeal.

Meanwhile, Bernama reports that investigators yesterday released security camera images of two men of Asian appearance wanted for questioning over the attack and said they believed up to five Asian men were involved.

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