Teen Girl Captures Mugger

Milnerton High School pupil and athlete Heather Berry proved she was made of sterner stuff when she chased and cornered a mugger who had snatched a woman's handbag in a park near her home.

The teenager grabbed the mugger in a parking lot.

"He wanted to hit me, but fortunately by that time a neighbour had arrived and intervened," she said.

This is a great example of people working together to stop crime. Both Ms. Berry and the neighbor who helped her are community heroes in my book. If more people had this attitude and didn't tolerate crime, the world would be a safer place.

"I was not concerned about a knife. I would have dealt with a knife. If he had a gun, I don't know what I would have done, but I am not afraid of a knife."

While I commend her bravery, people should realize that a knife is a very deadly weapon if wielded by someone who knows how to use it. I think it's great that this teenager was full of civic duty, but a knife is not a weapon to be dismissed lightly.

Liz Berry said her daughter was "like most normal people, we tend to be territorial where we live. She just wanted to defend her area".

I wish "most normal people" really were protective and willing to defend their area. The world needs to cultivate this attitude so that criminals have no safe havens and no easy targets. Our society conditions people to not get involved and to not put themselves at risk to help others. Unfortunately, this attitude encourages criminals. We need to stop trying to disarm everyone and get rid of zero tolerance policies for weapons and violence. If an innocent person is attacked, they should have the right to violently fight back with whatever tools they can obtain, and they should also be able to expect help from anyone who witnesses the attack. Police officers are not the only human beings on the planet with a moral duty to prevent bad things from happening. We, the people, are the front line of defense against crime and law enforcement personnel are our reinforcements.