JOHOR BARU: A 61-year-old woman alleged that a shop owner viciously struck her pet dogs repeatedly with a piece of wood merely because she chained them to his shop's grill at Taman Daya, near here, on Wednesday.
Josephin Mary Das Paul, a self-proclaimed animal rescuer, said she has been feeding stray for the past 20 years.
On Wednesday, after her car broke down, she had it towed to a mechanic along Jalan Sagu 5 in Taman Daya.
"I am jobless and homeless. I sleep in my car with my two dogs.
"Every day, I drive to several restaurants, pasar malam (night markets) and fast-food outlets to collect unsold food, to feed stray dogs and cats in five locations, namely in the vicinities of Adda Heights, Taman Daya, Nibong," she said.
However, her car broke down on Tuesday at about midnight after she fed the strays in Adda Heights.
She could not send it for repair, as the mechanic's workshop only opened at 10am the next day.
She slept in the car with her two dogs by the roadside.
"The dogs are not just my pets. They are also my protectors," she said.
Her car was towed to the workshop at about 1pm on Wednesday after the mechanic failed to repair it onsite.
The mechanic told her it would take some time for her car to be repaired and asked her to return later to pick it up.
"I was exhausted and sleepy. So, I chained my dogs to the grill of a closed shop lot, several doors away, and asked the mechanic to send me to a shopping complex nearby to get some rest and wash up," she said.
"About 5pm, when I returned to the workshop, the mechanic said the shop owner had returned and was angry to see the dogs chained to his grill.
"He took a piece of wood and hit the dogs repeatedly while one managed to escape. The mechanic's son and other shop owners in the vicinity managed to stop the man from attacking it further," she said.
"Both dogs escaped and went into hiding in some bushes nearby. They were badly injured," she said.
It took Josephin almost five hours to find both her dogs with the help of the shop owners nearby.
She lodged a police report at the Setia Indah police station.
She mentioned that she has not been able to secure treatment for her dogs as the Veterinary Services Department has not yet opened.
"I am not financially stable, and I hope those who can render help come forward and help me with my predicament. Action should be taken against the assaulter," she said.
Meanwhile, the mechanic in his late 60s, who preferred to remain anonymous, said he was not at the workshop when the alleged attack on Jospehin's dogs occurred.
"However, my sons were there…when he heard the commotion, he went to the dogs' aid, and one of the dogs had escaped.
The assaulter attempted to hit my son with the piece of wood but was stopped by other shop owners.
"While some took the assaulter away, another unchained the dog, but it ran away," he said, adding that he did not ask Jospehin to chain her dogs to the grill.
He also said when he attempted to lodge a police report at the Setia Indah police station later that day, the police officer in charge allegedly told him that no further action would be taken, as the dogs were not his, nor was his son injured.
He claimed that even though the policeman did not stop him from lodging a report, he was allegedly told that the report would not prompt an investigation.
Given the circumstances, he decided against it.