Wednesday, August 22, 2012

When the screams of a dying woman go unnoticed...

When I teach self defence at schools, in particular the urgency of vocalisation, some young ladies flick their hair, cross their arms and give me the "I'm too cool for this sh!te" stare.....

I dispare that these girls are the 'right victim'.  Too cool to scream, too cool to think of consequences... too cool to die.

This is a story lost in a time when people DID feel safer and the world wasn't AS NOISY.... But in the 60's a woman died after being attacked TWICE in front of neighbours, and no one came to her aid.


 
Cause of death
murder by stabbing


She was attacked TWICE, the first time a neighbour called out but did not go to her assistance.  The attacker RAN AWAY but RETURNED and HUNTED her when all was quiet again. 

12 people saw the attack – newspapers report that over  38 people saw it, but “didn't want to get involved."  from the New York Times article: "Thirty-Eight Who Saw Murder Didn't Call the Police"
 
The bystander effect or "Genovese syndrome"[6] and especially diffusion of responsibility.

 Perpetrator Winston Moseley : gave a confession to the police His motive for the attack was simply "to kill a woman." Moseley preferred to kill women because, he said, "they were easier and didn't fight back".[14]

Attack   Some accounts suggest that her cries for help were heard and ignored by numerous residents at the apartment. Other accounts, as detailed below, suggest that residents did not hear her pleas or did provide assistance or both. Genovese had driven home from her job at about 3:15 am. She parked about 100 feet (30 m) from her apartment's door, located in an alley way at the rear of the building. As she walked towards the building she was approached by Winston Moseley.[2] Frightened, Genovese began to run across the parking lot and towards the front of her building.  Moseley ran after her, quickly overtook her and stabbed her twice in the back. Genovese screamed, "Oh my God, he stabbed me! Help me!" Her cry was heard by several neighbors but, on a cold night with the windows closed, only a few of them recognized the sound as a cry for help. 
When Robert Mozer, one of the neighbors, shouted at the attacker, "Let that girl alone!"[9] Moseley ran away and Genovese slowly made her way toward the rear entrance of her apartment building.[10] She was seriously injured, but now out of view of those few who may have had reason to believe she was in need of help.

Records of the earliest calls to police are unclear and were certainly not given a high priority by the police. One witness said his father called police after the initial attack and reported that a woman was "beat up, but got up and was staggering around."[11]

Other witnesses observed Moseley enter his car and drive away, only to return ten minutes later. In his car, he changed to a wide-brimmed hat to shadow his face. He systematically searched the parking lot, train station, and an apartment complex. Eventually, he found Genovese who was lying, barely conscious, in a hallway at the back of the building where a locked doorway had prevented her from entering the building.[12] Out of view of the street and of those who may have heard or seen any sign of the original attack, he proceeded to further attack her, stabbing her several more times. Knife wounds in her hands suggested that she attempted to defend herself from him. While she lay dying, he raped her. He stole about $49 from her and left her in the hallway. The attacks spanned approximately half an hour.





Self defence is not a martial art, it is not a skill taught by 90 kilo men that fight in rings.... it is a set of survival skills that requires intelligence and instincts.  Be open to add more to your survival tool belt everyday....  because if you are like me you realize that the more you know, the more you need to know.





                                                R- rules of self defence
A – Attack from front and rear
V – Vocalise
E – De-escalate and Escape
S – Survive








Contact Erin for all your day care, school and corporate self defence training and policy writing....

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