A taekwondo champion is teaching Muslim women how to defend themselves, after a series of vicious street attacks.
Theresa Thomas, 52, has been snapped up by the One True Voice women’s charity to run classes for women wearing the hijab, who have become targets for muggers.
“I first heard about this when I was running an Asian women’s self-defence group in East London,” she said. “Then when I came to work in Finsbury Park, after One True Voice asked me, many of the women told me that muggers had been deliberately targeting them, taking the pin from their hijab and stabbing them in the head with it.”
She said the women found it hard to defend themselves because they were often carrying shopping bags or had children with them.
Theresa, who will be supporting a line-up of international martial arts athletes at the Olympics, has been teaching women at Andover Youth Centre on Holloway’s Andover estate since November.
Shamso Ibrahim, 25, from Finsbury Park, said her aunt had been a victim of the muggings.
“She was walking down Seven Sisters Road and a man came for her hairpin,” she said.
“But luckily my aunt is a confident woman and grew up in Somalia knowing how to fight, so she ended up throwing her attacker to the floor.”
Theresa hopes more women will be able to handle attackers.
She added: “It’s not about your size, it’s about technique.
I teach 5ft 2in women to throw off 6ft 2in attackers.”
Her classes on the Andover estate are due to finish next week, but she will be starting classes on the Elthorne and Cornwallis estates this month.