Football Critic Assaulted by 2 Masked Men at Gas Station

By Danial Martinus • 13 Jul 2026 in News

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DISCLAIMER: This article contains descriptions of assault and graphic footage that some readers may find distressing. Reader discretion is advised.

A Malaysian content creator and football commentator was brutally assaulted at a gas station in Bandar Sri Damansara on Saturday evening, 11 July.

The brazen assault was caught on a vehicle dash cam, showing two masked men repeatedly kicking and punching the victim’s head and body.

Victim sustained several injuries, including a fractured eye socket

The victim, in his 40s, stopped at the gas station to pump his tyres. He was then approached by the masked men, who proceeded to brutally assault him out in the open.

A couple of bystanders eventually decided to intervene, causing one woman to be knocked back as one of the assailants struck the victim in the face.

“The suspects repeatedly assaulted the victim before recording a video of the incident and fleeing the scene,” Petaling Jaya district police chief Assistant Commissioner Shamsudin Mamat said in a statement today.

One of the assailants recorded the attack, presumably to prove the “job is done”. (source: Joe Zakaria / X)

The victim, known on social media as Joe Zakaria, reportedly sustained several injuries, including a fractured eye socket. From the footage, it’s unclear whether the woman who tried to intervene was also injured.

Zakaria shared the disturbing dash cam footage on his X account, saying he wanted to “inform those who know me and to remind everyone to stay aware of your surroundings and stay safe.”

On 11 July at 7:24 PM, I was assaulted by two men at the Caltex petrol station in Sri Damansara.

I sustained a fractured eye socket and multiple injuries to my body. A police report has been lodged, and the case is currently under investigation.

I’m sharing this to inform those… pic.twitter.com/ItBns1apBE

— Joe Zakaria (@thejoezakaria) July 12, 2026

According to police, the motive behind the attack remains unclear, and that efforts to identify and track down the suspects were ongoing. The shocking case is being investigated under Section 325 of the Penal Code for voluntarily causing grievous hurt.

More worrying is the fact that this isn’t the first incidence of a football critic being assaulted by masked men. Back in November of 2025, three men chased down and assaulted award-winning journalist Haresh Deol in broad daylight.

Haresh Deol, co-founder of Twentytwo13 and Deputy President of the National Press Club. (source: Twentytwo13)

Deol, the co-founder and editor of KL-based news portal Twentytwo13, had just wrapped up a meeting in Bangsar when he noticed two suspicious men trailing him to his car. He tried to run, but was knocked down by a third man. The first two men then assaulted him, while the third recorded the attack on video.