"A Gold Coast nurse with a black belt in martial arts turned the tables on her assailant, breaking his arm when he tried to steal her car.
Nurse Beth Gascoine, 28, has been praised by police after fending off the violent knife attack in an empty Mermaid Beach car park on Wednesday.
The mother of two, who works metres away at a local medical clinic, was getting something out of her car, when she was approached by a tall stranger.
“I noticed him, but I didn’t pay any attention to him and he just walked over and said ‘Give me your keys’,” she told AAP.
"And I just went ‘Yeah, right’, which looking back, was probably the wrong reaction and he got out the knife and came at me.
“It was purely instinctive… I blocked it with my right arm, grabbed his other arm with my left, then grabbed his right again and quite possibly broke it.
“I’m pretty sure I hurt him and he dropped straight to the ground.”
Making good her escape, Ms Gascoine ran back to the clinic and called police.
The man was gone by the time they arrived.
Sporting six stitches on a gash to her wrist, she said things could have turned out differently if she had not been able to defend herself.
Ms Gascoine was a black belt in the martial art of Zen Do Kai about 10 years ago.
“It could have been a lot worse, (but) I don’t feel like the victim,” she said, while urging all women to undergo some form of self-defence training.
“I’m quite happy with the way I reacted… (the fear) came a bit later.”
Back at work a day later, Ms Gascoine holds out hope the offender will be caught - especially if he seeks treatment for his injured arm.
He’s described as being in his 20s, with a slim build, brown hair and eyes and was wearing a dark green t-shirt and jeans.
Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.”
I’d be very curious to see exactly what her technique was for breaking the guy’s arm.
“…I blocked it with my right arm, grabbed his other arm with my left, then grabbed his right again and quite possibly broke it…”
Maybe she tied his arms in a knot. At least one of them would break if she did that, right?
Being a nurse i expect her to know that elbows give the arms the ability to bend
Hm… I’ve heard only bad things about Zen Do Kai in Australia. I was hoping for a Judo or BJJ success story when I heard of a “woman breaks attacker’s arm” story in the paper.
On another note, if you look this story up on other news sites, the lady seems much less certain that she actually broke his arm - more that she just blocked the knife, roughed him up and pushed him to the ground. Still, all’s well that ends well.
Good think that gash on her arm didn’t happen to coincide with an artery.
“Hm… I’ve heard only bad things about Zen Do Kai in Australia. I was hoping for a Judo or BJJ success story when I heard of a “woman breaks attacker’s arm” story in the paper.”
I have heard mixed things about Zen Do Kai and they often teach BJJ and Judo at their dojos.