Lorrana Braga, 23, was filmed hurrying down a residential road in Recanto das Emas, in Brasilia, the capital of Brazil The feisty student used a martial art called Morganti Jiu-Jitso to deter the robber She refused to give up her phone and landed several kicks on her assailant Police warned victim’s action’s were ill-advised and she could have been wrong A brave student used martial art skills to beat off an armed mugger when he tried to rob her mobile phone in broad daylight. The victim, Lorrana Braga, who had a gun pointed at her, said she fought back because she believed the gun was a fake and looked like a toy. Using a martial art called Morganti Jiu-Jitso, which is a mixture of Jiu Jitsu, karate and judo, the feisty student landed several kicks on her assailant as she refused to give up the phone while holding her bags close to her body. Apparently surprised by her courage, the armed thug abandoned the attempted assault and fled the scene.But police warned the victim’s actions were ill-advised as she could have been wrong and ‘no object is worth a life, so it’s better to surrender and not react.’ Last Wednesday, on July 18, the 23-year-old was filmed hurrying down a residential road in Recanto das Emas in Brasilia, the capital of Brazil, around 12:47pm, when a car drove past and appeared to stop around the corner at the bottom of the road. Security cameras show that seconds later a man appears and runs towards the student, with his hand by his waist demanding she hands over her phone It’s believed the alleged gunman jumped out of the white Renault Sandero which was parked on the corner. Braga said: ‘Everything happened so quickly, and I wasn’t thinking straight. But I just didn’t want to hand over my cell phone. ‘I told him I was not going to give it to him because this was the second time I had been robbed. He grabbed my hand and started pulling my hair. He pointed the gun at me and said he was going to shoot me.’ She said the threat came in the midst of the fight, but the moment she saw the weapon she remembered thinking it was ‘super thin’. ‘It looked like a plastic toy and I instantly thought, this gun is a toy, it’s not real. I didn’t want to fight but on the last occasion I hadn’t reacted and I think I was a bit fed up with being in the same position again,’ she added acknowledging she is not an arms expert and didn’t sincerely know whether the revolver was real or not.She revealed she has been practising Morganti Jiu-Jitso for 18 months and said her skills kicked in. She said: ‘My training came to the fore instantly’ ‘When he pulled away, I saw that it was the ideal moment to fight back, I got into my stance and delivered several kicks.’ The first kick hit the bandit’s face and the other blows landed on his body. She even ran after the attacker but stopped when he jumped into the car. The victim told police there were two women waiting in the vehicle which sped off. Further up the road an elderly woman sweeping the street outside her property looked on but didn’t get involved.Military police major Michello Bueno said cops had received several reports of a vehicle with the same number plate being used in similar opportune assaults. He said: ‘This young woman was fortunate on this occasion, but she could have lost her life. We do not advise people to react in this way because the risks are huge.’ Giving some tips on how to behave when confronted with a violent mugger the major said: ‘It is not advisable to look the perpetrator in the eyes because he might think you are trying to memorise his face and he sees it as a threat. ‘You shouldn’t react or make sudden movements, but talk in a low voice telling the assailant, all the time, what you are doing. In these dangerous situations the perpetrator’s nerves are on edge and he is liable to react violently if confronted.’ Investigators are following up the descriptions given by the victim and with the footage from the security cameras detectives said they are confident in capturing the suspects.
