KUALA LUMPUR: A father of three died at the Kuala Lumpur Hospital on Sunday morning hours after being assaulted by a British lecturer outside a pub in Pandan Indah.
Leong Chin Yap, 50, died of head injuries after being hit with a blunt object and punched several times on the side of his head.
A 53-year-old British national, lecturing at a local college, was remanded by police yesterday.
Selangor police chief Datuk Tun Hisan Tun Hamzah confirmed the incident but declined to elaborate as investigations were ongoing.
The attack occurred early on Sunday morning when a group of Thai women were having a birthday celebration at the pub.
Pub owner Shirley Leong Siew Lai, 46, said the women were ordering drinks and mingling with other guests, including the British national and his male friend who were sitting at a different table.
"As the night wore on, the women ordered more and more drinks and were getting quite drunk. Some of them went and sat with the British man and his friend," she told reporters last night at the Xiao En funeral parlour in Jalan Kuari.
"When given the bill later, the women refused to pay, saying that they did not order the drinks. I confronted them but was kicked in the shin," Shirley said.
"My brother Leong, who helps me out in the kitchen, came to my assistance. Both of us grabbed the girl to escort her out, so as not to disrupt operations in the pub."
However, it is understood that as Shirley and her brother were taking the girl outside, the British lecturer allegedly punched Leong several times on the side of the head without provocation.
He started bleeding from the nose and vomited blood. Shirley said they rushed her brother to a nearby private hospital but he was transferred to Kuala Lumpur Hospital.
Leong died without regaining consciousness and the initial autopsy report revealed that he died of severe head injury and a fractured skull. He is survived by a wife and three daughters, aged 22, 20, 18. Leong was the sole breadwinner.
A police report was lodged and the British national was arrested. It is learnt that he had been working in Malaysia for about six months.
