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Original poster

Have you ever been randomly attacked/mugged/a witness to violence? Where were you?

45 replies

IdaBWells · 10/08/2019 17:31

Not wanting to traumatize anyone but wondering about this. I have lived in England, Germany and the USA. The only place I have been attacked was in Greenwich Park, London as a schoolgirl. I was about 15 and was attacked in broad daylight by a guy who run up to me and started to grab me, I swung my bag at him and dropped it and started to run away. When I looked back he was on the ground looking through my stuff, so I assume his motivation was robbery. This would have been in the early 80s.

I still have felt safe in all the places where I have lived. My cousin was stabbed in the back randomly after he and his cousin on his mum’s side were chased in London. My cousin is dark-skinned as his mum is Anglo-Indian, the attackers were boys of Turkish descent. That was also in the 1980s in London.

OP posts:

Venger · 10/08/2019 18:44

I worked in an off license back when I was a student and we got robbed one night. There were two of us working (small shop) and my co-worker had popped out around the corner for a smoke on her break as the manager didn't like us smoking in the back yard of the shop. These two guys in masks came in, flipped the door sign over to closed and started shouting at me to open the till and the safe, both had knives and where was the key? With my co-worker. I opened the till by ringing up a sale but couldn't do anything about the safe. One of them took me into the back and stood me next to it shouting for me to open it while I tried to explain I couldn't, convinced I was about to get beaten up and/or stabbed because he kept shouting did I want him to hurt me. Co-worker came in, was grabbed and marched into the back where she opened the safe. They grabbed the money and ran. We rang the police then sat on the floor hugging each other and sobbing because we were both all of 19 and didn't have a clue what else to do. The banking had been done earlier that day and it had been a quiet night so they got away with a grand total of £90 cash, £30 of it in bagged coins and around £200 worth of cigarettes (this was back when you could get a pack of 20 L&B for £3.50) so hardly the heist of the century but it made me anxious for ages afterwards.

SimonJT · 10/08/2019 18:48

I have been attacked a few times in NE London, they were hate crimes so not quite the same as opportunistic stealing. I have also witnessed similar happening to other people and friends, I have spent the night in a cell after defending a friend who was beaten up.

LaDrem · 10/08/2019 18:48

In Spain, as a child, a man tried to lead me away from my family to "show me his home". I went quite a distance before finding my voice, saying no and running away back to my parents (who had no idea I'd gone). I dread to think what would have happened. I heard him swear under his breath when I legged it.

My friend and I were trailed by, we suspect, a pickpocket. He followed us for a while and matched our movements until we became intimidated and ducked into a shop, that was in France.

So I've had a few close calls abroad. My sister was mugged in Leeds. He stood in front of her, demanded money and told her he would stab her if he didn't.

Jemima232 · 10/08/2019 18:53

I was mugged at knife-point in west London.

Original poster

IdaBWells · 10/08/2019 18:54

thecatneuterer where geographically did the murder happen? Were you/are you living in a neighborhood with a lot of gang activity? How common is murder where you lived/live? What a horrific incident to witness.

simonJT could you describe the hate crimes? Which areas of NE London? What were the sex and age of the attackers?

OP posts:

isabellerossignol · 10/08/2019 18:54

I got badly beaten up when I was about 12 by a gang of teenagers. For no other reason than that I was in a park at the same time as them.

Saw loads of punch ups, some quite bad, between random men on nights out in my home town when I was about 18. Then I moved to a bigger city and felt much safer and never saw anything particularly troubling.

Was victim of attempted carjacking on a rural road - two men jumped out of the side of the road forcing me to stop then they tried to get into the car. Got away but when I tried to report it to the police they wouldn't even speak to me

And saw a few bombs go off in my younger years, so I suppose that's pretty violent. Although I thankfully never saw any casualties close up.

Original poster

IdaBWells · 10/08/2019 18:56

Could everyone please give the sex and approximate age of the attackers/assailants?

My attacker was a grown man at least in his 30s. I think he was either mentally ill or on drugs by his behaviour.

OP posts:

ShirleyPhallus · 10/08/2019 18:57

Quite specific questions OP, are you a journalist or writing a book?

Venger · 10/08/2019 18:58

Could everyone please give the sex and approximate age of the attackers/assailants?

Why?

isabellerossignol · 10/08/2019 19:00

Are you writing an article? When I answered this seemed like a general chat but suddenly it's all 'give specific details'.

Casander · 10/08/2019 19:01

I was going to comment until you sounded like a daily mail journalist

thecatneuterer · 10/08/2019 19:02

OP - East Ham, East London (and yes, I still live there). And no, I had never (knowingly) even seen a gang before. I live by the access point to a sewer path that connects all of East London. They had apparently had chased him for some miles by bicycle along the path (it was a revenge thing for a previous murder) and he happened to make a break for it at that access path. The Police said that when they got the call they had to look on a map as it wasn't an area known to them at all.

I was remarkably emotionally unaffected by it. The Police though did take my front door away (evidence) and replaced it with a temporary chipboard thing. They weren't going to pay for a proper replacement until I threatened to not give evidence, then they coughed up.

Original poster

IdaBWells · 10/08/2019 19:03

ShirleyPhallus god no!

Venger because I am just interested and realised that can be an important part of the picture. I only started this thread as I was on another and someone casually mentioned they were mugged so I started to wonder how frequent it is. As woman and girls we often seem to be targets and it's rare that the attacker is female.

It's purely out of sheer nosiness.

OP posts:

Venger · 10/08/2019 19:03

Mm hmm

Original poster

IdaBWells · 10/08/2019 19:05

I have been around MN for a long time if you care to check. Definitely not a DM journo!

OP posts:

ChanklyBore · 10/08/2019 19:07

Yes - sexually assaulted in broad daylight just off an A-Road in the middle of the morning on my way to work. Attacked in my car by a man with a metal bat (broke car windscreen before I drove off) at a petrol station at around 9pm. Punched outside a pub by a drunk man looking for a fight and deciding I didn’t have the right to refuse his “advances”. Ive been in my home when it was broken into twice, neither time by burglars, both times by people looking to commit violence on certain people who lived there (not me, and the druggie I was sharing with wasn’t in). Not sure if you count it as an attack but also been flashed at by strangers twice, once in the woods walking my dog in the daytime, once on a bus with him sat next to me in the evening. Actually, practically the only place I haven’t been attacked is walking on my own after dark. All in the UK.

thecatneuterer · 10/08/2019 19:11

Oh yes, I had forgotten that I was sexually assaulted (attempted rape) in broad daylight too when I was 17 just five minutes from my house. He was later caught having raped a number of women in the area. He was only a teenager and had MH problems and was in a special home (this was the 70s) near my house.

That didn't affect me either.

Original poster

IdaBWells · 10/08/2019 19:15

I just remember a very scary incident when I was student at Sussex Uni. It was about 2-3am in the morning and me and one of my best friends (small, skinny Frenchman with glasses) were walking home down the deserted streets of Brighton. A small car had stopped at the lights as we crossed the road. Suddenly 3 big guys in their 20s/30s jumped out of the car and started to chase us down the road. Luckily their bulk meant they ran out of steam and we out ran them. But then they jumped back in the car and started to chase us, it was terrifying. I grabbed my friend and pulled him down a side st. Then ran up someone's path and hid in their door way. We heard their car screeching as they drove up and down looking for us. Very frightening. We waited a long time before we walked home. And we never reported it to the police!!! I have a feeling I read something in the Argus about people being attacked that night but just didn't do anything, no idea why. Maybe they was so terrifying I just didn't want to identify myself.

OP posts:

alphasox · 10/08/2019 19:43

2 years ago I witnessed a young woman being robbed of her phone and purse (and a scuffle when she tried to fight him off), in Margate, in broad daylight on a bank holiday with lots of people around.

Original poster

IdaBWells · 10/08/2019 20:04

One of my best friends had her purse snatched on a train. The robber however hadn't bargained on the fact that not only is DF quite tall she was a psychiatric nurse at the time and was constantly having to wrestle and restrain men of various sizes. She said first she was shocked, then outraged and marched straight up to him and got it back!

OP posts:

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