‘My body just reacted’: Forfar woman tells how she used karate skills to fend off attackers

A WOMAN grabbed by two men on her way home from a night out has told how she used her self-defence training to batter them.

Kelly Soutar, 29, explained how she used her karate skills to fight off her attackers, who were convicted of assaulting her in court last week.

Yesterday, welder Kelly said she is disappointed an attempted rape charge against the men, who had stalked her as she walked from a nightclub, was dropped.

Illegal immigrants Mohammad Islam and Shehab Smekramuddin are facing lengthy jail terms after a jury found they had assaulted Kelly in Forfar, Angus.

The pair stared at the 29-year-old as she ensured her friend got a taxi home outside the town’s Royal nightclub before she started walking towards her own house.

Islam then asked Kelly if she wanted him to walk her home. She refused and headed back towards the town centre.

She hung around the built-up area until she thought they had given up and disappeared before resuming her journey 20 minutes later.

But Islam approached again outside a park close to her home and Smekramuddin leapt over a wall and grabbed her.

Kelly said: “The younger one came towards me and I kneed him in the groin.

“When he came towards me again I punched him in the face.

“At that point the guy who was holding me pushed me to the ground so I was flat on my stomach and the other one had come in and was breathing on my head.

“I lifted my head. I don’t which of the two I connected with but I just struggled.

“We have been taught self defence stuff in class, especially if you are down on the ground.

“Muscle memory took over and my body just reacted on its own.

“I managed to dislodge the guy off my back and as soon as he was off balance I pushed him away and just ran.”

Kelly, a brown belt and a member of Dundee’s Kanzen Karate club, added: “If I hadn’t had my self-defence training behind me it would have been a lot worse.”

She fled to a friend’s home after the attack, which took place last September, where she turned into a “complete emotional wreck” and called the police.

Since the crime, Kelly, a welder, has suffered panic attacks and struggles to go out on her own.

She is urging women to get taxis home or walk home in groups —and learn some form of self-defence.

An intent to rape allegation was deleted from the charge when Islam, 28, and Smekramuddin, 48, were found guilty of assault after a three-day trial at Dundee Sheriff Court.

Kelly said: “I felt disappointed but at the same time I still felt relief at the fact they were getting caught for something.

“If I hadn’t got away as quickly as I did there might have been more evidence to support their intent but if I hadn’t got away as quickly as I did — and the two of them had got hold of me — I might not have got away.”

She added: “I don’t think they realise how badly it affects somebody’s life afterwards. I’m angry that they would do this to somebody and I’m glad now they won’t be able to do it to anyone else.

“I just hope people read this and think: ‘I should get a taxi home,’ and don’t walk home and don’t let their friends walk home on their own.

“You just never know when it’s going to happen. I also want guys to think: ‘Maybe I should be walking my female friends home.’

“It’s really safety in numbers.”

Kelly said: “I would feel safer (if the pair were jailed) and I hope it is a deterrent, I really do.

“I am disgusted, to be honest.

“By nature I’m a caring person.

“I feel bad when I accidentally stand on my dog’s paw and I don’t understand what goes through their heads and why they would want to do this to somebody.”