JB workshop staff pepper sprayed, forced off the road and almost run over by customer

JOHOR BARU: Three people, including two mechanics, were injured when a customer sped off in his car without paying for RM38,000 worth of repairs.

Johor Baru North OCPD Asst Comm Balveer Singh said the 40-year-old customer had sent his car to the workshop in Taman Setia Tropika here at around noon on Sept 7.

“The customer was given a quotation of RM38,000 for the repairs and services he wanted and he left the vehicle at the workshop,” he said in a statement here today.

Three days later on Sept 10, the customer returned to the workshop with a friend at around 8pm saying that he wanted to go for a test drive in his newly-repaired car.

Worried that the customer would drive off before paying for the services, the 29-year-old workshop owner told one of his workers to tag along for the test drive.

During the drive, the customer told the 23-year-old worker to check the car boot as he allegedly heard a noise.

“As he opened the car door to get out, the customer’s friend pepper-sprayed the worker’s face and they sped off without him.

“Upon seeing this, the workshop owner ran across the road and tried to cling onto the vehicle’s side mirror at a traffic light but the customer tried to run him over,” he said.

“Another one of his workers, a 29-year-old, chased after the customer on a motorcycle but the car forced him to the side of the road until he fell,” added ACP Balveer.

As a result, the second worker broke his right arm and hurt his right knee and left wrist.

ACP Balveer said the workshop owner also suffered from an elbow injury while his first worker’s eyes were hurt by the pepper spray.

“We are tracking down the suspects involved in the incident after receiving a police report from the workshop owner at 8.45pm on Tuesday,” he said, adding that the incident involved losses of about RM43,000.

The case was being investigated under Section 307 of the Penal Code for attempted murder, Section 324 of the Penal Code for intentionally causing hurt using a weapon or other dangerous objects, and Section 42(1) of the Road Transport Act 1987 for driving recklessly and dangerously.

Those with information about the incident are urged to head to the nearest police station or by calling the Johor police hotline at 07-2212 999.