I FOUGHT OFF A KNIFEMAN AT THE SUPERMARKET
CHARLENE’S WEEKLY SHOP TURNED TO TERROR
When Charlene Gibbard’s husband popped into the supermarket to pick up some last-minute groceries, the doting mum waited in the car with sleeping baby Eila, two.
But it was a decision that had a catastrophic impact on the usually happy-go-lucky mumof-three – as moments later a knife-wielding stranger burst into her car and ordered her ‘not to say a word’.
The terrified 31-year-old had no idea what the man wanted, but one thing was clear – she wasn’t going to let anyone harm her precious baby.
Channelling the tiger mum inside her, Charlene fought back, lashing out at the assailant until he fell back out of the car, giving her just enough time to wrestle the sleepy tot from her car seat and flee to safety.
Earlier this month, Ashley Cobb, 21, was jailed for the attack, which has left the mum in a state of shock.
‘It started off as an ordinary day. We were on our way to pick up our eldest two, Ruby, 12, and Jenson, nine, and at the last minute decided to pop into our local store and pick up some extra bits for tea,’ Charlene tells New Idea. ‘My little girl had fallen asleep in the back of the car and I decided a trip to the shops wasn’t worth waking her so I stayed put while my husband Westley popped in.
‘It was just a very, very ordinary day... until suddenly the car door flew open and I found myself face-to-face with a man armed with a knife. My blood ran cold.’
Many people, including Charlene, fear they’d freeze in such circumstances, but the mum was quick to defend herself.
‘It all happened so quickly. The man was jabbing this knife at my chest and he told me: “Don’t say nothing,”’ she says.
‘But I caught a glimpse of my sleeping baby and knew I had to fight back.’
Desperately pushing the blade from her chest as he jabbed it at her, Charlene fought the man off, frantically trying to grab the handle of the knife and push him back out of the door.
Eventually he did fall out,
finally dropping the knife in the struggle.
‘I hauled myself out of the driver’s seat and threw open the back passenger door,’ Charlene, from the UK, recalls. ‘My hands were shaking so much and there was no time to even unbuckle Eila, I just yanked her from under the safety straps. As I was doing it I heard the knife clang to the ground. The relief was immense, but all I could think was that I had to run.’
Charlene screamed as she fled, alerting strangers. Eventually she collapsed, bleeding, inside the entrance of the store. Security guards and members of the public raced to confront her attacker, while Charlene screamed for her husband, who was unaware of the drama.
‘Westley got such a shock, seeing me crumpled in a heap with blood pouring from my hand and down my arm as I held on to Eila so tightly.
‘When he got the gist of what happened, he ran out to confront the man too and finally the police arrived.’
After the police whisked the man into custody, detectives trawled CCTV footage from inside the store in the minutes leading up to the attack.
Ashley Cobb, 21, had spent several minutes searching the aisles, looking for scissors. After stealing them he then went in search of knives. After he picked a 15cm carving knife, he cut open the packaging and left the shop without paying.
Asked why he had done it, Cobb – who suffers from ADHD and a learning disability, and admitted downing up to 20 cans of beer three times a week as well as smoking cannabis – had little explanation, other than that the cash machine had swallowed his bank card when he had tried to withdraw money, which had ‘brought out the anger in him’.
‘Waiting for his trial was hard,’ admits Charlene. ‘Life just wasn’t going back to normal.
‘I was too scared to go anywhere on my own and I was scared of being in the car.
‘I still had no idea what the man had actually planned to do and the shock was starting to kick in. My mum was distraught too and was kept awake at night by what had happened to us.
‘She even posted a warning on Facebook begging people to keep themselves safe, saying how proud she was of me for having the strength to fight and how grateful she was that me and Eila were still with her. That really made it hit home how much worse it could have been.
‘I hated going to the supermarket, and as a busy mum it didn’t make life easy!’
On June 3 this year, Cobb admitted affray, possessing a blade and criminal damage.
It turned out he had previous convictions for aggravated vehicle taking, and being drunk and disorderly. Cobb was also in breach of a conditional discharge for threatening words and behaviour.
James Ross, defending his client, said Cobb had served almost eight months on remand. He submitted a suspended sentence with conditions could be imposed, so Cobb could be referred for treatment.
During the trial at Maidstone Crown Court in the UK, Judge Adele Williams said Charlene had been ‘understandably terrified’.
‘She believed you were going to kill her,’ the judge told Cobb, sentencing him to serve two years’ imprisonment.
‘I couldn’t bare to face him in court, but instead heard about his sentence afterwards,’ Charlene says. ‘I’m relieved he’s behind bars, but it’s not long enough. Before he was sentenced I spent my life looking over my shoulder, but now I’m starting to get my confidence back.
‘You always worry you might freeze in frightening situations, but a mother’s instinct can sometimes be stronger. I don’t know what he’d have done if I hadn’t fought back, but the tiger mum in me knew that when faced with that knife I had to save my baby from that maniac.’
‘IT WAS A VERY, VERY ORDINARY DAY... UNTIL SUDDENLY THE CAR DOOR FLEW OPEN’