‘People who use knives need help...’
LIFE hasn’t been easy for James Bourne.
He worked as a doorman for more than 20 years in various bars in Cardiff city centre and was stabbed five times. He’s also been stabbed twice in non-workrelated incidents in London.
It is still tough for James, now 45, from Butetown to open up about the times he was stabbed, but the scars on his body will always be a painful reminder.
He has been stabbed in the head, shoulder and arm. On one occasion, he was lucky to survive thanks to the stabproof jacket he was wearing.
He said: “When I started out as a doorman I was in my early 20s and things were completely different back then. You would be asked if you could defend yourself, get paid £4 an hour and that was it.
“One of the first times I was stabbed I told a few guys to stop taking drugs inside the club and told them to move outside, which ended up in a confrontation.
“I was stabbed in my head and I fought back. I had to defend myself. I ended up in hospital. As I’m getting older and I’m losing my hair, I can see the scar on my head every time I shave my head and that’s when it brings back painful memories.”
A father-of-five, James trained as a level one instructor in Kalah, a self-defence and combat system developed by Idan Abolnik, an ex-member of an Israeli commando unit.
The training is tough but helps people deal with their fear of violence and aims to help them deal with likely and unlikely scenarios they may face every day.
James now trains classes across Cardiff for men, women and children of all ages to combat knife crime.
James said: “Knife crime is on the increase in Cardiff but we need to look at the mentality of these boys and see how we can help them.
“People who use knives need help and education to show them that this isn’t the way forward and you don’t need a knife to protect yourself, but they need someone they can trust.”
James says he was good friends with the dad of Asim Khan and was “taken aback” when he heard of his death.
Now he is helping those who have been victims of knife crime, and maybe even those who have carried knives themselves previously.
His sessions are free and open to anyone – no questions on anyone’s history are asked, only their medical history.
“The sessions aren’t fun and games,” he said. “Knife crime isn’t a joke and these days we have 12-year-olds running around with knives. You must protect yourself.
“All the sessions are taken really seriously and everyone enjoys them, but we don’t mess around.
“I don’t know whether people are becoming more obsessed with this culture because of what they see online, but it is a worrying trend.
“Me and the other instructors also go out of our way to teach the selfdefence classes.
“Everything is free and we are just trying to keep people safe.”
■ James teaches Kalah training sessions around three times a week across Cardiff. To get involved visit www. kalah.wales