KOTA KINABALU: After telling off his neighbour to stop throwing rocks and sticks at the villagers' houses, a 73-year-old man was attacked with a machete on Tuesday.
The 45-year-old unemployed assailant was angry when the senior citizen scolded him for disturbing others at Kampung Lok Urai Selanggan off the Gaya Island here.
District police chief Assistant Commissioner Mohd Zaidi Abdullah said in retaliation, the assailant went back to his house to retrieve the machete and later returned to confront the old man.
"In the 11am incident, the man slashed the victim's head and when he saw the injuries he had inflicted, the assailant took off into the forested area," he said in a statement, adding that the assailant was a drug addict.
The senior citizen was taken to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital here to treat his head wounds, Zaidi said.
He said the suspect was arrested later at an unnumbered house in Kampung Lok Urai here about 4.30pm on the same day.
"We also confiscated a machete about 0.6 metres long, which is believed to be used by the suspect to attack the victim," he said.
Zaidi said police investigated the incident under Section 324 of the Penal Code, which carries a maximum prison sentence of 10 years or a fine or whipping or both, if convicted.