Man holds woman hostage at knifepoint in Kota Kinabalu

A man in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, held a woman hostage at knifepoint for two hours at around 7.30pm yesterday (May 10).

According to The Star, the man was topless and can be seen in a video grabbing the woman from the back while pointing a knife at her neck.

Based on initial reports by the police, the man, a foreigner in his late 20s, had broken into a house at Taman Istimewa. He was later seen by the house owner.

The man then took a knife and made his way to another house, where he held the woman hostage.

The police arrived to respond to the break-in, but were then caught in a stand-off with the man.

They urged the him to let the woman go, but he refused. The man then dragged the hostage for 2km to Jalan Damai.

A road cordon was formed at around 8.30pm as the stand-off was going on.

After negotiators failed to calm the man down, police officers posing as medical personnel approached him on the pretext that they wanted to provide aid for the woman.

The man allowed them to approach, and was promptly apprehended after the officers overpowered him by surprise.

The stand-off lasted for around two hours.

Police said that the victim had no external injuries but was traumatised. She was later taken to hospital for treatment.