It's a Cheap Shot, I Know...

...but I have to comment on this. I realize that it could happen anywhere, not just in England. Washington D.C., suburban Houston, wherever, but this is the kind of thing that just pisses me off when arguing with people who want to make victim disarmament mandatory rather than voluntary. When I read this story the thing that immediately popped into my mind was the quote by Tim Lambert of Deltoid where he defended gun control laws by saying:

If the law disarms attackers, then it can make self defence possible where it would have been impossible if the attacker was armed.

Which commenter Sarah of Carnaby Fudge rephrased:

If the law disarms citizens, then it can make self defence impossible where it would have been possible if the citizen was armed.

In this case, that couldn't be more true.

'He held a knife to Joseph's throat and then stabbed me'

By Simon Freeman, Times Online
Young paralysed mother gives her account, by blinking and mouthing words to police, of a vicious stab attack in Surrey

The man who attacked Abigail Witchalls chased the young mother along a leafy Surrey lane, held a knife to her toddler son's throat and then stabbed her in the neck, according to a harrowing account she has given to detectives.

The attacker, a man in his 20s or early 30s, then rolled her son's buggy over her body before fleeing from the quiet lane in the wealthy village of Little Bookham.

Mrs Witchalls's harrowing story was painstakingly recorded over six hours last night by two female officers using a silent vocabulary of blinks and mouthed words from her bed at St George’s Hospital, Tooting, South London.

Detectives today praised the courage and determination of Mrs Witchalls, who is paralysed and was preganant at the time of the attack. They said that they had been amazed by the detail she has so far been able to give. It is not know(sic) whether her unborn child has survived.

At a press conference at Surrey Police headquarters in Guildford today, Detective Superintendent Adrian Harper said: "She is an incredibly brave and determined young woman."

Detective Superintendent Adrian Harper, leading the investigation, said Mrs Witchalls, 26, was determined to help catch her attacker.

He described how she had been walking along the lane with her son at 3.45pm on Wednesday when she was passed by a blue, four-door estate car. A man in the driving seat made eye contact with her and, he said, she began to fear for her safety.

"She first saw the man at about 3.45pm on the public footpath along Water Lane in Little Bookham. The man was in an old-style blue estate car.

"It drove towards her on the path and passed her and they looked at each other. At that, Abigail started to feel uneasy and put Joseph in his buggy and began to walk home along the path with a sense of purpose.

"When she was three-quarters of the way along the track she turned and saw the car had pulled up. The man had got out and was coming toward her. She heard him say 'You've dropped your purse'.

"She tried to open the gate at the end of the lane but in her panic was unable to do so. She turned around and saw the man had hold of Joseph and was holding a knife to his throat. He then grabbed her and pulled her down to the ground and as he did so he stabbed her in the back of the neck with a knife.

"He then pushed the buggy with Joseph still in it on top of her and ran off."

Mrs Witchalls described the man as being aged between 20 and 35, with short dark scruffy hair. He had a long thin face, with prominent cheekbones, and wore a silver hoop earring in each ear. He had a deep voice with a southern or Cockney accent and black bags under his eyes. He appeared to be under the influence of drink or drugs.

Mr Harper said: "Abigail has been through an even more horrendous experience than we imagined. It's hard to imagine a more compelling picture of vulnerability and innocence. He's clearly a very dangerous man who must be caught as soon as possible.

"We are conducting an enormous operation and have gathered a huge amount of information. We now need the help of the public. This was a crime so horrific that I would hope that helping identify the offender would come before any loyalty from friends, relatives or even criminal associates.

"This is a most unusual process with a very intelligent and strong young woman. What Abigail has told us is very significant to this inquiry. We are able to work with confirmed information which has crime directly from her.

"It has changed the focus of the inquiry and enabled us to rule out the man with the blue Peugeot we had previously arrested and bailed. We believe he was in the vicinity but that he was not involved in the attack."

He added that the interview had been an emotional experience for Mrs Witchalls, her family and the officers involved.

He added: "Suffice to say that the entire family and my officers found the interview very challenging and emotional. Joseph wasn't harmed. He did have a knife held to his throat. He is starting to act out some of the things that happened to him on that day.

"This description is a strong description I think there will be a few people out there who will know the individual involved.

"These lanes are remote locations. It isn't an area that you would have come to by chance and this may well be a local person with local knowledge."

Assistant Chief Constable Mark Riley again praised Mrs Witchalls for her bravery and reinforced the appeal for information.

He said: "Her condition does appear to be continuing to improve. She has sustained an horrific injury but she is no longer in a critical condition.

"We believed that after yesterday's interview she would need a day's rest. She has in fact demanded that we return to the hospital today to continue the interview process.

"She is an extremely intelligent young lady with a determination we should all be proud of. The prognosis is still unclear and the hospital is conduction further tests at this time."

Mrs Witchalls, who was ten weeks pregnant when she was attacked, was enjoying a walk along a bridle path adjacent to £1 million homes when her assailant struck.

She has serious swelling around her spinal cord and doctors are unable to say whether she will be permanently paralysed. It is not known whether her unborn child survived the attack.

The law did not disarm Mrs. Witchalls' attacker. I don't know whether Mrs. Witchalls would have wanted a weapon had it been allowed, but she didn't have a choice. I doubt whoever did this is a first-time offender. They've arrested a man and have already released him on bail, but the chance of him having encountered a resisting victim in the past who might have put him off of violent crime is essentially nil. The law preventing English subjects from carrying any "offensive" weapon only works on the law-abiding.

Here's one more:

FATHER DIES OF INJURIES

A father of three has died after trying to save a schoolgirl from being attacked by a gang of teenagers, it has emerged.

Thomas Noble was allegedly struck on the head and fell to the ground during the incident, close to his home in Sunderland.

The 53-year-old taxi driver had been fighting for his life since the assault in the Roker area of the city on Friday night but died in hospital on Sunday.

He had rushed from the family home to help after hearing the girl scream as she was surrounded by a gang of youths outside an off-licence.

During the incident Mr Noble was allegedly hit from behind with a weapon, causing him to fall and smash his head on the pavement.

His ex-wife, Pat Scott, told The Journal newspaper: "We've been told he was trying to stop a young girl being assaulted. It was a gang of youths, and he was trying to protect a female."

A Northumbria Police spokesman said a post-mortem examination revealed that Mr Noble had died of head injuries.

A boy of 16 has been remanded in custody by Sunderland magistrates, accused of manslaughter.

Mr. Noble had no weapon, against a gang of teenagers. So armed with nothing other than his bare hands and foul language apparently (since waving even a toy pistol will get you six months in the slammer for "possessing an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence"), he got killed for his good Samaritan effort.

Yup, "If the law disarms attackers, then it can make self defence possible where it would have been impossible if the attacker was armed."

But it doesn't disarm attackers. It disarms the defenders.