Self-defence in the News - No. 119

Perth woman uses army self-defence to fight off teens

Oct 08, 2022

Di, a 70-year-old woman from Perth was ambushed by teenagers who wanted her cigarettes.

A 70-year-old woman has fought off two would-be thieves after they ambushed her for cigarettes as she sat alone on the verandah of her home in Australia.

 

"They went, 'if you don't give it to us we're going to hurt you'," Di told 9News in Perth.

 

The retiree, who relies on a walking frame, was punched in the face but she managed to land two blows of her own.

 

When she refused to hand over the cigarettes, one of the teenagers lunged.

 

Di, a former clinical nurse, leapt into action, using self-defence she learnt in the army.

 

"The next thing I knew I got punched in the face and that came so quick I didn't have a chance to do anything," the 70-year-old said.

 

"But the second one I was ready for and I blocked that.

 

She managed to wind her attacker before taking on his accomplice.

 

"The other one came at me and he had his arms up covering his torso so I couldn't do the same thing and I just kicked out and hit him hard in the scrotum."

 

Battered and bruised, the duo ran away along Throssell Street but in the dark, CCTV didn't manage to capture the pair as they fled.

 

"I didn't expect I would do anything. It absolutely shocked me when I got so enraged and thought I'm not standing for this."

 

After the pair left, an exhausted Di fell, hitting her head on the verandah, where she lay unconscious before crawling to her mobile phone and calling for help.

 

The incident, which left Di's face bruised and swollen, happened just after 11pm on Wednesday (local time).

 

"It was only six cigarettes and the police said to me, 'you should of just given it to them and they would have gone away', but that wasn't the point," she said.

 

Even as Australian detectives continue to hunt the teens, the retiree says she refuses to live in fear.

Di was attacked by two teenage boys, but she managed to land a few blows of her own.

Self-defence in the News - No. 118

Teenage Girl Escapes Abductor

Monday, 7 November 2022

The Selwyn Fireworks Spectacular event at Foster park. Photo: Selwyn Fireworks Spectacular

With a crowd of thousands, plenty of security and police, a Christchurch dad had no doubts his daughter would be safe attending a packed-out Guy Fawkes event and he certainly didn’t expect her to nearly be abducted from it.

The dad, who media have agreed has not to name, said a man approached his 14-year-old daughter at the Selwyn Fireworks Spectacular in Foster Park on Saturday night.

 

“[She] bent down to tie up her shoe lace and as she stood up, she felt someone tug her arm and initially thought it was one of her friends,” he said.

 

“When she looked up and realised it wasn’t one of her friends she pulled her arm away and he grabbed her arm again and started to walk off with her... forcefully.”

 

The girl told her family and police that the man was walking away with her towards the exit for around six seconds and she went into panic mode, experiencing blurriness and echoing.

 

In a final yank, she managed to pull away from the man and screamed as she ran to the business tents.

 

People at the tents calmed her down and then her friends and their family members took her to report the incident to police on site.

 

The dad said he received a phone call from police and was told to meet them and his daughter at the Rolleston police station where they made official statements.

 

“The police were amazing. They were really supportive, they were really friendly, they looked after her because she was quite shaken and hysterical and scared,” he said.

 

“For me, it was the brazenness of it. There was 14,000 people there and there was police and security and whoever it was still tried to do what they did, that was the most shocking thing.”

 

A police spokesperson confirmed they received a report about the incident and are making inquiries.

 

Now the dad has been further shocked after posting details about the incident to a local Facebook community page and getting responses from others who have recently faced a similar situation.

 

“If this was an isolated incident, you think, well okay someone tried something stupid but it’s more worrying that more and more people are now commenting on it saying ‘I wonder if this is the same guy that tried this with my son or my daughter within the last month or so’ – that’s a bit more worrying for me,” he said.

 

He said he wants people to be aware that situations that might look like a father trying to get his adolescent to come home could in fact be an abduction, but didn’t blame anyone for not stepping in to help the girl.

 

“Somebody somewhere must have seen something and thought ‘it’s nothing, I’m not going to get involved when actually it could have been a lot worse’,” he said.

 

“I’ve been in that situation before where I’ve thought it’s not my business.”

 

When approached by the Herald, President of the Selwyn Fireworks Spectacular committee Chris O’Brien said he was not aware the incident had occurred.

 

O’Brien said security had been increased by 20 per cent compared with 2020′s event and that they work closely with emergency services to ensure a safe event.

 

He said the committee will contact police about the incident and will identify areas for prevention for the 2023 event.

 

-By Caitlan Johnston

Self-defence in the News - No. 117

22-year-old man doing his shopping shoots and kills Indiana mall gunman

 Police laud actions of man who killed Indiana mall attacker

 

By ARLEIGH RODGERS and RICK CALLAHAN

 

19 July 2022

The image provided on Monday, July 18, 2022 by the Greenwood Police Department shows Jonathan Douglas Sapirman, 20, who police say fatally shot two people, Sunday, July 17, after he opened fire with a rifle in a food court and before an armed civilian shot and killed him at the Greenwood Park Mall in Greenwood, Ind. (AP Photo/Greenwood Police Department via AP)

 

GREENWOOD, Ind. (AP) — A 20-year-old man likely assembled a rifle in the bathroom of a suburban Indianapolis shopping mall before shooting five people in the food court, killing three of them before an armed shopper fatally shot him, authorities said Monday. 

Jonathan Sapirman of Greenwood apparently was facing eviction before he opened fire at the Greenwood Park Mall shortly before it closed Sunday evening, the city’s police chief, James Ison, said at a news conference. 

Sapirman continued shooting people until he was shot and killed by 22-year-old Elisjsha Dicken, of Seymour, a city about 45 miles (72 kilometers) south of Greenwood, who was shopping with his girlfriend, Ison said, calling Dicken’s quick action “nothing short of heroic.” 

“Many more people would have died last night if not for a responsible armed citizen,” said the chief, noting that authorities were still trying to determine a motive for the attack. 

The Johnson County and Marion County coroners’ offices identified the slain victims as a married Indianapolis couple — Pedro Pineda, 56, and Rosa Mirian Rivera de Pineda, 37 — and Victor Gomez, 30, also of Indianapolis. A woman and a 12-year-old girl who was hit by shrapnel were wounded in the attack, police said. 

Although authorities said Dicken was legally armed, the mall prohibits people from carrying weapons on its property. The mall issued a statement Monday saying it grieves for the victims and praising Dicken’s “heroic actions.” It didn’t mention its no-weapons policy and its operator, the Simon Property Group, didn’t respond to a request for comment. 

As of July 1, Indiana law allows anyone age 18 or older to carry a handgun in public except for those prohibited for reasons such as having a felony conviction, facing a restraining order or having a dangerous mental illness as determined by a court. Indiana’s Republican-dominated Legislature retained provisions in the law that allow private property owners to prohibit firearms. 

The attack Sunday was the latest in a string of mass shootings in the U.S. Schools, churches, grocery stores and a July Fourth parade near Chicago have all become killing grounds in recent months, though the country’s staggering murder rate can often be seen more clearly in individual killings that rarely make major headlines. 

Authorities said Sunday that four of the victims were female and one was male, but they corrected that Monday to two males and three females. 

Ison said Sapirman entered the mall and walked into a bathroom, where he spent about an hour before he emerged and opened fire. He said investigators believe Sapirman spent that time preparing and possibly assembling a disassembled rifle that he had brought in his backpack. He ended up firing 24 rounds within [fifteen seconds]. 

Ison said Sapirman used an AR-15-style rifle during the shooting and that investigators found another one in the bathroom. They also found a handgun on Sapirman, who was wearing a waistband holster and had several magazines that contained more than 100 rounds of ammunition. 

Although police don’t know a motive for the attack, Sapirman’s relatives told investigators that he recently received notice that he was being evicted from his apartment, though Ison said authorities were still trying to confirm that. Relatives also said Sapirman resigned from a warehouse job in May, he said. 

“Right now we have no motive. His family members that we spoke to, they were just as surprised as everyone else was. They said there were no indicators that he was violent or unstable,” Ison said. 

The chief said Dicken fired 10 rounds from his handgun, and that as he fired, Sapirman “attempted to retreat back into the restroom and failed, and fell to the ground after being shot.” 

“He engaged the gunman from quite a distance with a handgun and was very proficient in that, very tactically sound. And as he moved to close in on the suspect, he was also motioning for people to exit behind him,” Ison said of Dicken. 

Sapirman had a juvenile record, including for a fight at school and an incident where he ran away from home, but he had no criminal record as an adult, the chief said. 

He said relatives told investigators that Sapirman has been practicing shooting at a gun range, and that records obtained by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives confirmed he had frequented the range and bought ammunition there over the past two years. 

Ison said officers recovered a cellphone from a toilet in the mall bathroom that they believe Sapirman placed there. At Sapirman’s apartment, they found a laptop and can of butane inside the oven, which was on and set to a high temperature, the chief said without elaborating. 

The cellphone and the laptop, which was damaged by the oven’s heat, will be analyzed by the FBI, and that “we are very curious to have those analyzed,” he said. 

Mark Myers, the mayor of Greenwood, a city of roughly 60,000 people just south of Indianapolis, said the grieving community is shocked to be the scene of a mass shooting. 

“I don’t want to be among the mayors that has to share these statements. But sadly, I am,” he said. “I grieve for these senseless killings, and I ache for the scars that are left behind on the victims and on our community.”

A customer checks a door on the closed Greenwood Park Mall in Greenwood, Ind., Monday, July 18, 2022. The mall was closed Monday after police say three people were fatally shot and two were injured, including a 12-year-old girl, after a man with a rifle opened fire in a food court and an armed civilian shot and killed him. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Elisjsha Dicken

Self-defence in the News - No. 116

 Dog walker fends off knife-wielding robber

A man was walking his dog along Hutt River when another dog walker pulled out a small knife.

Sophie Cornish 

Jul 13 2022

 

A dog walker has fended off another dog walker who attempted to rob him at knifepoint beside the Hutt River. 

The man was walking his dog along the river about 12.30pm on Wednesday when another dog walker pulled out a small knife and demanded he empty his pockets. 

The victim then kicked the knife from the man’s hands, kicked him in the groin and left the scene. 

“Police are currently doing area inquiries for the offender with the knife,” a police spokesperson said.

Self-defence in the News - No. 115

Farmer pulls gun on boy racers

Another farmer let down by authorities 

Kerre Woodham 

Wed, 6 Jul 2022

 

Another farmer has appeared in court after being let down by police and authorities. 

This time it's a Taranaki farmer who fired a shotgun as he ran down his driveway towards a group of boy racers who had parked near his paddock and were allegedly throwing bottles at his bull. 

On first hearing, you might think that's a bit of an overreaction. I mean, you don't want a bunch of over-excited young people aggravating your stock sure, but doesn't really warrant bringing out the hidden weaponry in terms of the shotgun until you hear that it wasn't the first time. 

There had been groups of oiks gathered outside his property for more than 10 years.  For a decade boy racers have plagued the Taranaki district.  And despite a couple of deaths, injuries, numerous court cases, damaged police vehicles and a bylaw change, there has been no relief for the many law-abiding citizens who are fed up with the arrogance and the attitude from a generation of boy racers. 

There are so many, many examples over the last 20 years of people taking the law into their own hands. It's a sign that people are fed up with being left defenceless. 

Either because they live remotely and there simply aren't the resources available from the authorities. I'm sure farming communities have the resources available, but then that's what gets you into trouble. 

I don't want it to go to a state where your law reigns supreme because you might think differently to me, you might have a different ideas of what is right and just than I do. 

We're all going to have a different idea, that’s why we have common law. 

But when it's not being applied, when people feel let down, when people are basically left to their own devices in matters of life and death. 

Not just property, but in life and death, then this is going to be the outcome.  And that's not a failing of the individuals involved. That is a failing on the police and the authorities.

Self-defence in the News - No. 114

 Home invasion self-defence: Father and son cleared of all charges. 

 

William Burr and son Shaun emerge from the High Court at Hamilton after being cleared on all charges. Photo: NZME

A jury has found a Piopio father and son not guilty of an attack that saw the tip of a teenaged burglar's little finger chopped off in a bungled home invasion.

William Burr and son, Shaun, were found not guilty on all charges by a jury in the High Court at Hamilton this afternoon. 

The pair were found not guilty on charges of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, or wounding with intent to injure in the alternative in relation to attacking the boy with a stick as he lay on the floor.

 They also faced a charge of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm or maiming with intent to injure after chopping off the tip of the boy's little finger. 

Burr senior faced extra charges of assaulting a woman, for kicking the teen girl in the head on the floor and injuring with intent to injure for allegedly stomping on the back of the boy as he lay on the floor. 

The jury of three women and nine men spent 45 minutes deliberating yesterday before retiring and resuming at 10.40am today. 

They returned with their unanimous verdicts at 3.45pm in front of a packed public gallery of the Burr family and supporters. 

The teen boy had the tip of his little finger chopped off by the pair after he and his girlfriend broke into Burr senior's home about 1.45am on October 1 in 2020. 

The Crown said it was aggressive violence with the pair acting out of revenge for what the teen had put Burr senior through that night and in previous burglaries. 

The defence contended the situation was far from being under control and the teen constantly posed a threat as he lay with a knife on the floor. 

Before the verdicts were read, nervous family waited anxiously as Shaun Burr's partner held their children and wept silently. 

The father and son returned to the packed public gallery after being discharged, to hugs and handshakes. 

"Oh my God, not guilty," one family member uttered. 

There were tears and congratulations as the group waited for Justice Powell to discharge the jury. 

WHAT HAPPENED? 

For the past six days, the jury has heard detailed accounts about what is alleged to have happened inside the Napinapi Rd home. 

King Country farmer William Burr, known as Bill, had three times been the victim of the burglar - each time he broke into Burr's home to get the keys for his car from his Te Mapara home. 

This time, fuelled with bourbon and cannabis, the 17-year-old took his then-girlfriend - both of whom have name suppression due to their age at the time - to Burr's house in the early hours. 

The teen had been bailed to an Auckland property on charges from a burglary of Burr's home the week before and was driven down by his girlfriend's cousins. 

The pair went into Burr senior's bedroom after being unable to find the keys elsewhere in the house. 

There, the teen girl hit him over the head; she would say once, he says twice, and a fight erupted lasting approximately eight minutes. 

Burr snr then managed to turn the light on and said he'd give up, and hand over the keys which he told the boy were on top of the microwave. 

He sat exhausted on the end of the bed, naked, next to the teen girl. He told her he was going to put on some clothes and she left. 

He testified that it was then he grabbed his shotgun from his ensuite, marched down the hallway, and pointed it at the pair as they stood in the kitchen. 

They both immediately dropped to the floor and Burr snr said he set about calling various people, including 111, his son, his neighbour, and local police constable Tony Schrafft. 

Shaun Burr arrived and it was then he set about striking the teen, on instruction from his father, as he believed he was trying to get up off the ground. 

Burr junior struck him with one "beautiful" punch, he said, which sent him to the floor. 

Burr snr says there were then multiple occasions where the boy was lashing out and trying to stand up, as he held a knife which he feared was going to be used on them. 

Annoyed that he kept getting up, he says he warned the boy that if he didn't show his left hand that he would cut it off. 

Still refusing to put both hands out in front of him, he asked Burr jnr to cut him, to which he made a small cut to his finger. 

The boy still refused to show his hands and it's then that Burr snr instructed his son to chop it off - which Burr jnr did. 

WHAT ABOUT THE HOME INVADERS? 

The teen girl was uninjured in the ruckus, while the boy was airlifted to Waikato Hospital that morning. 

After being treated for injuries he was discharged two days later. 

The pair were also charged by police; the boy was arrested and convicted of aggravated burglary. His girlfriend was dealt with by Youth Aid and went through a family group conference. 

Both had automatic name suppression due to their age at the time of the offending. 

 

- By Belinda Feek, Open Justice reporter of NZ Herald

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