PUCHONG: It was a Saturday like any other for Nur (not her real name) when she heard angry shouts coming from one of the other units at the densely populated Puchong Permai flats.
Though shouting matches in the neighbourhood are “rare”, Nur, the matriarch of her family, said she did not pay much attention to it as it was “someone else’s” household.
It wasn’t long before she was alerted by others to what had transpired.
A couple of floors above, a 27-year-old man had got into a heated argument with his mother and locked her out of the home, leaving him with his one-year-old daughter in the unit.
“His mum had called the police but by the time they arrived, the baby had been stabbed.”
The man was arrested and a bread knife, believed to have been used to stab the victim, was confiscated.
The baby was rushed to the Serdang Hospital and is now in stable condition.
“Everyone is shocked; this is a closely-knit community. We are friendly with all our neighbours,” said Nur, who has lived there for decades and knows the family.
According to neighbours, the man and his daughter lived with his parents and two siblings in the flat.
The baby girl, Nur said, was the darling of her grandparents, uncle, and aunt, being the only grandchild.
“I am at a loss as to what happened. I’ve never heard the family fighting and I’ve known the boy for years. He grew up here.
“He is a good man. He would always greet me when he sees me. I would have never expected him to do something like this.”
Other neighbours approached by FMT also voiced shock at the incident, with a few speculating that the suspect could have been under the influence of drugs at the time, citing a similar incident in the flats just two years ago.
In that incident, in August 2018, a father, who was high on drugs, slashed his five-year-old son thrice, killing him.
He said he was hallucinating and that voices in his head told him to kill his son. This happened less than 200 metres away from yesterday’s incident.
“We are all in disbelief. I don’t personally know the suspect but I know one of his siblings,” said one neighbour, who declined to be named.
“I don’t know if it is drugs, I don’t want to speculate. I am just glad that the girl, from what we hear, is in stable condition.”