Caught on camera: Heroic grandmother-of-10 fights off alleged thief

A Gold Coast grandmother-of-10 has made headlines after CCTV footage captured the 55-year-old fighting off a man who allegedly stole her handbag while she was out celebrating her birthday last month.

In footage shared on 7News’ YouTube page on Monday, the 42-year-old man can be seen snatching the gran’s handbag from a table before running off with it. But the gran wasn’t going to let the alleged thief off easy and can be seen kicking off her shoes before chasing the man.

The two then engage in a tussle, which sees the gutsy gran grab the man in a headlock position before reclaiming her bag. According to 7News, the gran was left with cracked ribs, cuts and bruises following the altercation. Queensland Police have since tracked down the alleged thief and charged him.

The heroic gran has been praised for her courageous actions online, with one person writing in the comments section of the YouTube video, “Yes, go Grandma. Gee she took some hard falls on concrete. Well done.”

Another added, “A lot of us grannies are still tough as nails. Lol!” While a third wrote, “Grandmother of 10??? That bloke had no chance.”

And it seems to be the week for gutsy grans. Just yesterday, an 84-year-old woman, who was one of the first Aussies to receive the coronavirus jab, stole Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s thunder after she flipped off the waiting press corps accidentally.

Aged care resident Jane Malysiak joined Morrison on Sunday at a press photo opportunity designed to mark the country’s first vaccination. Morrison encouraged Jane to join him in doing Winston Churchill’s famous ‘V for victory’ hand signal for the cameras. It was “V for vaccine” in this occasion, Morrison joked.

Jane was happy to comply, raising her hand to show a victorious V – before quickly turning her hand around and flashing the waiting press corps, with cameras rolling, an ‘up yours’ sign more commonly seen exchanged by infuriated motorists or cheeky school kids. Cue a lot of loud laughter from onlookers, and it took Morrison a few seconds to regain his composure as he quickly put his hand over Jane’s, while explaining “always front, always front!”