You really picked on the wrong woman!
Karate expert tells how she battered attackers as they get 3 years in jail
‘They didn’t get away with it’
EVEN as a karate expert, Kelly Soutar probably never imagined the moves she practised so diligently would one day save her in a terrifying street attack.
But the 29-year-old’s martial arts training kicked in when she was cornered by two illegal immigrants who followed her home from a night out.
Fearing she was about to be raped, Miss Soutar turned the tables on Mohammad Islam and Shebab Smekramuddin, delivering a volley of punches and kicks.
Yesterday, she spoke of her ‘complete relief’ after the pair were each jailed for three years at Dundee Sheriff Court for the assault in Forfar, Angus, last September.
They now face deportation to their native Bangladesh at the end of their sentences.
Brown belt Miss Soutar, a member of Dundee’s Kanzen Karate Club, said she hoped her ordeal would encourage other women to take self-defence classes.
She added: ‘I’m glad it’s over with and it’s satisfying they got a sentence and didn’t get away with it. It is a complete relief knowing they won’t be able to do this to anyone else in this country.’
‘A lot of people have got in touch with me to ask about karate and going to do self-defence classes and whether it is worth it.
‘It has raised awareness, which is the main thing. I definitely think self-defence classes are worth it. Even just a little bit can give you confidence.’
The court heard Islam, 28, and Smekramuddin, 59, were seen outside the Royal nightclub in Forfar, staring at their victim as she left to walk home.
CCTV footage showed welder Miss Soutar heading home, with the two men following her 200 yards behind.
Although she spent 20 minutes trying to avoid them, Islam approached her outside a park close to her home. Smekramuddin leapt over a wall and grabbed her.
Speaking after the trial, she 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.
‘The guy who was holding me pushed me to the ground. We have been taught self-defence, especially if you are on the ground. I managed to dislodge the guy off my back, pushed him away and just ran.’
Miss Soutar went to a friend’s home and called the police.
The men, both prisoners at HMP Perth, originally faced a charge of assault with intent to rape, which they denied. A jury found them guilty of assault, but intent to rape was deleted from the charge.
Jailing them, Sheriff Linda Smith said: ‘I heard the victim – the young woman assaulted by you – give evidence and have seen the effects your involvement in this matter has had on her.’
Miss Soutar said she was disappointed the intent to rape allegation was deleted, adding: ‘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.’