Mother knees knife-wielding robber in groin

A brave mother has told how she felt the "cold blade of a knife" pressed to her throat moments before fighting off an armed robber during a terrifying bottle shop heist. Amanda Williams, 40, said she thought of her nine-year-old son Dartanyan as she grabbed her attacker's wrist, pushed the blade of the 25cm kitchen knife from her throat and kneed him twice in the groin. Yesterday, the courageous mum was back at work in the Ravenswood Hotel liquor store, 15km east of Mandurah, Australa, after the attempted robbery on Friday afternoon. Her alleged attacker appeared in court yesterday.

"I'm not a hero - I'm just a single mother who wasn't going to let that guy walk all over me," an emotional Ms Williams said. "I wasn't going to leave my boy without a mother. I felt the cold blade of the knife pressed against my neck and I just fought back. Preservation of life kicked in and I was running on instinct. I've seen the video footage since and I couldn't believe what I did. I'm gob smacked - it hasn't sunk in yet and I'm just reeling from it. I suppose it was a pretty dangerous thing to do, but that's the kind of person I am. I wasn't going to give him anything. I've been beaten up before by blokes and I got so angry and just let him have it."



Ms Williams said she thought it was a joke when the man first demanded money. "I was serving a customer and I felt an arm go round my shoulder and something cold on my throat and I thought it was one of the chefs from the kitchen pulling my leg," she said. "I reached around and pulled off his balaclava. I was laughing, but that's when I realised it was for real and I was in a very, very dangerous situation." After kneeing him in the groin, Ms Williams said she tackled the man to the ground and wrestled the knife from him as customers in the adjacent pub and bottle store came to her aid. She said she now felt only pity for her attacker. "I'm not angry any more - I just feel sorry for him," she said. "He was stupid. He got nothing out of it, he traumatised me, and now he's probably going to go to jail," she said.

Ravenswood Hotel licensee Sherry Connell said Ms Williams was "an absolute champion". "She's a tough cookie, not the sort of girl to sit back and take it," Ms Connell said. "What she did was powerful. You can't always lie down and play dead. She was demanding respect and he got what he deserved." Her alleged assailant appeared in East Perth Magistrates Court yesterday charged with attempted armed robbery. He was not required to enter a plea and will appear in the Perth District Court on Friday.