BY: Satiman Jamin

JOHOR BARU, MALAYSIA: Children at a kindergarten here were left traumatised after their teachers were robbed at knife-point yesterday.

However, the brave action of one of the teachers saved her colleagues from being hurt.

Two men, in their 20s, had come to the kindergarten in Taman Sri Skudai about 10.30am.

One of them entered a classroom on the pretext of enquiring about a pupil while the other waited outside.

But as the teacher turned to her colleague for an answer to the man's query, he brandished a hunting knife and pointed it at her abdomen.

"I told him to take whatever he wanted and not to harm us," the 21-year-old teacher said, adding that the man then ordered her and three other teachers to hand over their jewellery and money.

"They took two handphones, three gold chains and RM240," said the teacher, who declined to be identified.

The teacher held on to the robber's hand and pleaded with him not to harm them when he became enraged and threatened her colleagues after he was told one of the handbags did not contain any money.

The teachers were then herded into one of the classrooms.

By this time, the 50-odd children, who had witnessed the incident, were in tears.

The robber became enraged once again when he caught one of the teachers trying to hide her handphone under the carpet.

The teacher once again risked her life by holding on to the robber's hand to prevent him from slashing her colleague.

The robber and his accomplice rode off on their motor-cycle.

Later, it was learnt that another kindergarten had been robbed 10 minutes earlier in neighbouring Taman Ungku Tun Aminah.

Police have not ruled out that both cases were committed by the same robbers.