Self-defence in the News - No. 122

Boy uses slingshot to save his sister from an attacker

Jonathan Edwards

20 May 2023

Owen Burns with his parents after the kidnapping attempt of his sister.

(STEVE SCHULWITZ/AP)

Owen Burns assumed his little sister was goofing off with her friends in the backyard when he heard her screaming, something he found annoying.

 

But when the 13-year-old looked out his bedroom window moments later, he saw a stranger holding a hand over his 8-year-old sister’s mouth as he tried to drag her into the nearby woods.

 

Owen turned to his bed and grabbed his slingshot and any ad hoc ammunition he could find: a marble and a rock, as it turned out.

 

From his bedroom, he loaded the marble first, pulled back the slingshot’s yellow, plastic tubing, aimed out his open window at the stranger some 60m away and let go.

 

The shot hit him – right between the eyes. Then Owen loaded the rock and fired again – another hit, this time to the chest.

 

“He was swearing. He was cussing,” Owen told The Washington Post.

 

It was the start of a bizarre encounter on May 10 outside Owen’s house in Alpena Township, Michigan, where attempted kidnappings “don’t really happen,” according to Maggie Burns, the children’s mother.

 

By day’s end, Owen’s sister would be safe, if traumatised, Owen would be hailed a hero with impressive aim and a 17-year-old local would be behind bars, accused of trying to abduct an 8-year-old from her backyard.

 

Police did not identify the 17-year-old in its news release but said he’s being charged as an adult. Law enforcement praised Owen for neutralising a scary situation that could have turned into a tragedy.

 

“He really is the one that ... I believe saved his sister’s either life or from something seriously bad happening to her,” Lieutenant John Grimshaw said at a news conference, calling Owen’s actions “extraordinary”.

 

“He should be commended for it,” he added.

 

Owen’s slingshot is nothing fancy. His mother bought it for him on clearance for US$3 a couple years ago, he told The Post. Since then, he’s gone out in the backyard from time to time to do some target practice using old orange juice cans.

 

He wasn’t using it on the afternoon of May 10, at least not at first. Instead, he was just settling in to Call of Duty: Black Ops II on his PlayStation 3 after getting home from school.

 

His sister was hunting for mushrooms in the backyard, which backs up into some woods. They were alone, having arrived home before their parents, which was unusual.

 

That’s when the 17-year-old emerged from the woods and tried to snatch Owen’s 8-year-old sister, who screamed and struggled, state police said in a news release. When Owen first saw what was happening, he said, a thought flashed through his mind: If this stranger kidnapped his sister, he might turn her into a sex slave or kill her.

 

As Grimshaw later recounted, the suspect “came from behind her, grabbed her like you see in the movies – hand over the mouth, arm around the waist – and was attempting to pull her into the woods”.

 

That’s when Owen reached for the slingshot and hit him twice. Having freed herself, his sister came inside, crying, telling her brother she had almost been killed.

 

Owen roared out of the house, yelling and cursing while the guy started to take off. As the stranger kept running, Owen grabbed a baseball and hurled it at him, missing just over his shoulder.

 

Then, Owen returned to his trusty slingshot, stretching the sling back as he prepared to fire a third shot. But the plastic band broke, causing Owen to smack himself in the face with his hand.

 

The stranger got away – but not with his sister.

 

The siblings called their mother, who had stopped to help a family member on the way home from work. Her children were hysterical and incoherent, but she could make out the word “kidnapped”. Racing home, she called the police.

 

“I was in shock for a few days,” Maggie said.

 

Police said they found the 17-year-old suspect hiding at a nearby gas station. He was charged with attempted kidnapping, attempted felony assault, and misdemeanour assault and battery.

 

“He had obvious signs of an injury consistent with those that would have been sustained from the slingshot strikes to his head and chest,” police said in a news release.

 

Maggie said that, at first, she didn’t believe her son had sniped a stranger from some 60m away. She thought he was talking big.

 

Then, police informed her of the 17-year-old’s telltale injuries. They said that, as investigators interviewed the suspect, the marble-induced goose egg on his head kept growing.

 

“You said I always lie!” Owen told his mother.

 

“I just couldn’t believe it,” she responded. “It just didn't sound real, until there was proof. It sounds like something you would see in the movies.”

 

“Mum,” Owen said, “stuff in the movies can and do happen in real life.”

Self-defence in the News - No. 121

Piha locals pin burglar to ground after woman assaulted

Two Piha locals held the teen down before the authorities arrived 

after he allegedly assaulted an elderly lady.

Piha locals have stepped in to catch a burglar after he allegedly assaulted an elderly woman in her home.

 

The incident on Glenesk Rd on Saturday night has left residents in the community on Auckland’s west coast concerned for their safety as they continue to rebuild from Cyclone Gabrielle.

 

A police spokesperson said they were notified of an attempted burglary and an assault on Glenesk Rd at 8.05pm.

 

A 19-year-old is due to appear in the Waitakere District Court on Thursday on charges of assault and burglary.

 

Police said no “significant injuries” appeared to have been reported from the assault. Residents on a local community page said the victim was an elderly woman.

 

The 19-year-old, according to locals, was reportedly part of a group staying at an Air BnB nearby who had attempted to break into several other properties before entering the woman’s home.

 

The residents also shared on Facebook that two neighbours took down the teen, pinning him to the ground for 25 minutes before police could arrive and arrest him.

 

“Everyone’s nerves are raw,” a post to Facebook by a concerned local read. “And the lowest bottom feeders are always prepared to take advantage of an opportunity.”

 

They added businesses in Piha were struggling after the cyclone destroyed or damaged several homes and temporarily cut-off the area from the rest of Auckland by road.

 

“We all miss our friends and family coming out to see us. But red and yellow stickered homeowners have their homes and possessions vulnerable until decisions are made.”

 

The incident follows fierce opposition from residents in Muriwai, another cyclone-battered coastal community, which led Auckland Council to backtrack on a decision to lift cordons, which would have exposed red-stickered houses to potential looters.

 

Many Muriwai residents were distraught at the initial decision to lift hard street cordons in Muriwai today and allow street access to the general public to more than 100 red-stickered and still deserted houses.

 

Muriwai was one of the worst-hit suburbs in the Auckland region from Cyclone Gabrielle’s onslaught. A landslide in the early hours of Monday, February 13, killed two volunteer firefighters there.

 

All major roads into the community had been blocked with cordons since then, but on Friday afternoon Auckland Council announced several roads would abruptly be reopened today.

 

After the Herald’s questions to Auckland Council on Saturday about the community objection to the cordons being lifted, the decision was reversed.

Self-defence in the News - No. 120

Liquor Store Owner Shoots Armed Robber With Shotgun

Liquor Store Owner Shoots Armed Robber With Shotgun - YouTube

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

Self-defence in the News - No. 113

Woman fights off street attacker

22 July 2018

A woman was pushed to the ground as she walked on a Hamilton street in the early hours of Saturday.

She fought off her attacker but police are still looking for him - and say he may now have cuts on his head.

The woman was walking south down Higgins Road between 4.30am and 5am, police said, and the man came up behind her.

He forced her down to the footpath near the intersection with Ramsay Street, police said.

"She fought him off and hit him in the head," a statement from Acting Detective Sergeant Michael Handley said.

The man ran off, and was seen heading north on Higgins Road towards Killarney Road.

The man was wearing all black and was described as being of medium build and height, Handley said.

"He may have lacerations or cuts on his head."

Anyone with information on who the man could be, or on the assault, is asked to contact Constable Richard Ely on 021 191 0208, or Hamilton Police on (07) 858 6200.

Self-defence in the News - No. 112

Man shot as he tries to break into girl's home

https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/americas/105009122/us-girls-mum-shoots-kiwi-her-daughter-met-online-as-he-tried-to-enter-their-home

Self-defence in the News - No. 111

Shopkeeper scares off armed robber

18 June 2018

By Tom Kitchin

Old Town Store owner Utia Lafita holds the saucer she used to scare off a would-be robber. Photo: Tom Kitchin

Cromwell dairy owner Utia Lafita says she was not afraid during  an attempted armed robbery at her shop in Old Cromwell on Friday night, she was just "very, very angry".

"I don’t know what happened. The people here are very friendly, this was just out of the blue."

About 8pm on Friday,  Mrs Lafita, the owner of Old Town Store in Achil St, was minding her shop when a male dressed in dark clothing and wearing a balaclava walked in.

"He was covered from head to toe, it was only his eyes I could see. As a human being, I thought he was just very cold."

Mrs Lafita (64) assumed he was going to buy something, as he walked over to the chocolates at one side of the counter and began to stare at them.

"Less than a minute later, he turned around and said ‘Give me your money’."

She saw what looked like a gun in his hands.

"I leant over the counter and said ‘What?’. My heart was bubbling."

Mrs Lafita tried to find something to throw at him, but all she had at the counter was a small saucer.

"I held [the saucer] up and he ran out and around the corner."

Mrs Lafita was uninjured and did not give the man any money.

But she could not work out how to use her phone. Luckily, her daughter arrived about 10 minutes later and called the police.

Mrs Lafita said her family had been in Cromwell for three years and this was the first kind of robbery she had witnessed.

She thanked the Cromwell community for their support.

"The next morning,  I opened up the shop and the first person was so upset and unhappy and asked what happened."I feel so honoured. They feel what I’ve been through. They are caring people."

A police spokeswoman said the man could have been holding a small firearm or an imitation firearm.

• Cromwell police  (03) 445-1999; Crimestoppers  0800 555-111.

Self-defence in the News - No. 110

Nelson man fights off home intruder

CHERIE SIVIGNON

December 22, 2017

A Nelson man who woke up to find an intruder in his house wrestled with the man who was threatening to stab him.

"I'm very grateful my partner and the kids weren't there and they never had to see anything," said the resident, who declined to be named. "I'm a big boy; I can handle myself but ... the kids."

The resident said he was woken about 2.30am on Tuesday to a noise in his home at the Wood. He got up to investigate and saw a glow like torchlight coming from his spare room. The resident went in to find a man in the room.

"I told him to get the f... out of my house."

The pair started to exchange blows, the resident said.

"He said: 'I'll stab you, I'll stab you."

The resident said he saw no knife at the time and the fight continued.

During the tussle, the man fell back and smashed his arm through a window.

Cut and bleeding, the man continued to fight, the resident said.

"I said: 'We can keep doing this or you can get out of my house'."

The man chose the latter option and left via the front door "squirting blood down the hallway", the resident said.

Police were called and arrived quickly, blocking off the area. A dog unit followed a trail.

The resident said police officers went back into the spare room with him and together and they found a knife that the resident believed belonged to the man.

"They were exceptionally good," the resident said of police officers involved.

The resident said he believed the man had also been in two of three vehicles on his property but he did not think anything had been taken from the vehicles or the house.

"It was brazen," the resident said of the incident. "He had to know someone was in there."

About 1½ hours after police were called, the resident was told a man had been arrested.

The resident said he understood the alleged offender had been granted bail.

"I'm frustrated with this," the resident said. "At the end of the day, these guys shouldn't be at large. He had a knife in my house. I should be able to sleep in my own bed without harm."

Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming confirmed a 19-year-old man had been arrested and charged with aggravated burglary.

She said he had been remanded on bail to an address outside of the Nelson area, and would be back in court in late January.

Police also confirmed the man arrested was treated for cuts at Nelson Hospital.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nelson-mail/news/100100086/nelson-man-fights-off-home-intruder-armed-with-knife

Self-defence in the News - No. 109

Australian gas station owner fights off armed robber

November 26, 2017

An Australian service station owner has exacted sweet revenge on a would-be robber armed with a machete, 7 News reports.

Ratan Raju, whose service station is outside the town of Caboolture in rural Queensland, grabbed the nearest thing to hand to protect himself when he was confronted by the armed man: a lolly tin.

CCTV footage shows the man approaching Raju, waving his machete around and demanding cash. Raju grabs a large tin of Milkos from behind the counter and hurls it at his assailant's head, sending him running for the door.

Raju then follows the would-be robber outside, arming himself with a tube of Pringles and a pot of honey on the way.

"I whacked him on his head and then he ran further so I ran closer to the garbage bin and I gave it to him on his back," Raju told 7 News.

"He was coming back with a knife, so I got [a] chair and I said 'come on, bring it on'."

It's not the first time the Australian Navy veteran has taken on a robber: the last person whe demanded cash from his till got knocked out cold. 

During the latest drama, Raju's wife and children were in the room behind the store.

"I work 14 hours a day, seven days a week, no one is just going to come in and grab my sweat and my blood off me," he said.

And if the robber returns? Raju has a clear message: "He'll be sleeping on that ground, I swear."

https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/australia/99253914/australian-gas-station-owner-fights-off-armed-robber-with-lollies-pringles

Self-defence in the News - No. 108

Off-duty cop carrying baby shoots dead two robbers

November 23, 2017

An off-duty Brazilian police officer had a baby under one arm when he pulled his gun and engaged in a shoot out with two robbers, leaving the raiders dead.

The gun battle took place in a pharmacy and part of it was captured on surveillance footage.

Souza opened fire when one of the robbers, wearing 

a masked hoodie, pointed a gun at him.

At one point the officer is seen handing the baby to his wife, who had taken cover behind one of the store's aisles.

Brazilian newspaper Estadao reported Sao Paulo police sergeant Rafael Souza, his wife and the infant, were shopping in the city of Campo Limpo Paulista on Saturday.

Two men stormed the shop and announced they were robbing the place.

One of the robbers, wearing a masked hoodie pointed a gun at Souza. At that point Souza pulled his gun and the shootout started.

Souza told investigators he fired first because he believed the robbers would have opened fire if he told them he was a police officer.

Self-defence in the News - No. 107

Dairy owners fight off axe-wielding robbers

PHILLIPA YALDEN

June 27, 2017

When tomahawk wielding robbers stormed Ram Sharma's dairy, the father of one had two instinctive thoughts.

Fight back or step back.

So the Hamilton man, and his parents, took on the thieves using a bottle of soy sauce and canned goods to thwart the pair's violent attempt to grab cigarettes.

"Once they come in you can't think what to do. It's only 45 seconds - you can try to protect yourself or you try to stop them."

Police are now appealing to the public to help track down the pair who attempted to rob the dairy on Aberdeen Dr and Courtney Ave on Sunday evening.

Around 6pm Sharma was working the counter when the two men wearing black balaclavas rushed into the store.

They approached the counter with their tomahawks raised and demanded cigarettes.

"I was standing out the back in the storage area having a chat with my parents while they were doing some stuff when two guys came in with the axe.

As the pair approached, Sharma yelled "hey, don't touch".

"I said - 'don't hurt us, take what you want'."

"But he still kept coming towards me."

Sharma put his hands in the air, repeatedly telling the culprits to take what they wanted.

"He said to the other guy - get the smokes."

But before the thieves made it to the cigarette cabinet, Sharma grabbed one of the men's axe.

"Then he started struggling with me. Meanwhile my dad was pushing him outwards while mum tried to hit him."

Sharma's 53-year-old mother turned to the other robber, pulling on the man's mask as he advanced towards the struggling trio.

"I think he lost his shoe, which we didn't realise until later."

A metre or two away Sharma and the thief grappled with the axe.

"Then he started trying to release the axe that I'm holding very tightly."

"Then he just took it, tried to hit me again but luckily I had a soy sauce bottle next to me."

After the soy sauce, Sharma began hurling cans.

"We tried to chase them out but it's too dark outside, there's no street lights and you can't see if they are hiding, and it's not safe to chase them."

At the same time the culprits entered the store Sharma believes a customer pulled up outside with a baby in the back of her car.

Too afraid to enter the woman stayed in the vehicle and called police.

"Once we came back we found one left his shoe behind. We hope the cops can find something."

He described one man as being about 5ft 10, of heavy build and darker skin. The other was shorter about 5ft 4 and skinny with white skin.

Sharma was taken to hospital on the night with a gash to his finger and rapid heart rate.

In the six years the family have owned the store this is the first serious robbery they have experienced.

"It does make you think about safety, everyone is concerned about each other.

"The mental stress is the main thing, it creates fear and makes you think whether it was safe to run the shop."

Sharma was thankful his wife and nine-month-old baby were away overseas at the time.

"We just thank god we are safe."

Waikato police Detective Sergeant Nicola Cornes said the pair fled empty handed.

"This type of threatening behaviour is not something the community should tolerate.

"Police are investigating and are appealing to the public for assistance."

Anyone who recognises people in the images, or witnessed any suspicious activity around the superette on Sunday, is asked to contact Hamilton police station on 07 858 6200.

Alternatively, information can be shared anonymously with Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/94112572/dairy-worker-grabs-tomahawk-from-masked-robbers

Self-defence in the News - No. 106

London attacks: Man fights back against terrorists

5 June 2017

Eyewitness Gerard Vowls came face to face with the London Bridge terrorists after leaving his friends at the pub and bravely confronted the group to try and stop them.

Gerard Vowles told Sky in the UK he shouted at the terrorists and threw tables and chairs at them in the hope they'd follow him and stop stabbing others.

When three men armed with a van and knives went on the attack in a bustling area of the British capital on Saturday night [Sunday NZ Time], Londoners fought back with whatever came to hand, in some cases hurling chairs and tables to ward them off.

The attack, in which the assailants killed at least seven people and injured almost 50 before they were shot dead by police, began with a van being driven at high speed into a crowd of pedestrians on London Bridge.

"It looked like he was aiming for groups of people," Mark Roberts, a 53-year-old management consultant, said He saw at least six people on the ground after the van veered on and off the pavement.

"It was horrendous."

Then the knife-wielding assailants took their attack to the nearby Borough Market, where survivors described a hellish scene in an area packed with people enjoying a night out in bars and restaurants.

Gerard Vowles told Sky TV he was on the street near the Southwark Tavern pub, the scene of multiple stabbings, when he heard someone say: "I've been stabbed, I've been stabbed".

"I thought they were joking," he said.

He said he then saw a woman and man being stabbed while the attackers shouted: "This is for Allah", and recalled how he tried to distract the men.

"As they left I was going 'Oi, oi, cowards!'" Vowles said. "I was just trying to get their attention by throwing things at them ... I thought if I throw bottles or chairs they can come after me. If I can get them to come to the main road then the police can stop them, they can obviously shoot them."

Other witnesses reported seeing a man with a large blade, similar to a kitchen knife, and victims bleeding from stab wounds. They said people were fleeing the area in panic.

One witness, who only gave the BBC his first name of Ben, said he saw a man dressed in red who was stabbing a man with a blade that appeared to be about 10 inches long.

"He was being stabbed quite coldly and he slumped to the ground," he said of the victim. The attacker then walked towards Southwark Tavern where a chair was thrown towards him, shortly before gunshots rang out.

- Reuters

http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/europe/93339321/london-attacks-oi-cowards-witnesses-yell-as-they-fight-back-against-terrorists