Ninja nans fight back
A woman’s handbag can come in handy. It stores our belongings, you can carry it almost anywhere, the stylish designs are endless and if you ever come face-to-face with a knife-wielding criminal you can even hit him over the head with it.
A woman’s handbag can come in handy. It stores our belongings, you can carry it almost anywhere, the stylish designs are endless and if you ever come face-to-face with a knife-wielding criminal you can even hit him over the head with it.
This is exactly what an 89-year-old Victorian woman did when she and her two lifelong friends came face-to-face with a man who held a knife to one of the elderly ladies’ throat last Friday (27 May 2011).
The brave woman told local media on Saturday that she did not know ‘‘how [her] legs carried [her]” when the confrontation occurred at a Malvern carpark in Melbourne.
‘‘I thought he was going to kill [my friend] and I wasn’t going to have that, and I just hit him with my bag on his face,” the elderly woman said.
“I would have killed him if I could,” she admitted.
The women, aged 89, 82 and 71, have been dubbed the ‘ninja nans’ by the media.
The three women stopped for a chat, and had been standing in the car park for about 10 minutes when they were confronted by the knife-wielding attacker who tried to snatch their handbags.
The woman who had the knife held to her throat said she tried to kick him in the groin but could not move her leg far enough or high enough.
‘‘I felt very scared about having a knife put to my throat. It wasn’t until he did put it on my neck that I realised ‘I’m in big trouble’, but I still didn’t let my bag go,” she told The Age newspaper.
While the confrontation was occurring, the 71-year-old woman ran behind the getaway car and memorised the number plate, later found to have been stolen in Reservoir on 21 May.
Her elderly and sick husband, who was sitting in a car nearby, also heaved himself out of the vehicle and began yelling at the offender, before another passer-by joined in.
Due to the commotion the attacker, thought to be aged between 50 and 55, fled to his car empty-handed and drove off.
With World Elder Abuse Awareness Day coming up next month, we are interested to know your thoughts on this amazing story which proves anybody, no matter what age they may be, can defend themselves.
