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I got sent this video, which is actually from a few years ago but has turned up in the news again due to a sentencing change (see later).
It's a case of if it looks like a nut with an axe...maybe, just maybe, it might be exactly that?
In the video the soon to be aggressor described as a “transgender woman” can be seen entering the shop openly carrying a large axe, with a large coloured kitchen knife in a rear pocket.
The male customer moving to queue up sees this and seems bemused rather than concerned, he opens a dialogue as he is approached quite aggressively in terms of body language and the presence of a weapon.
There is talking that we can't hear and then.... he turns his back.
Possibly, he's trying to look unbothered or isn't taking this threat seriously.
This is about to be a very bad move in a series of bad moves.
The woman at the check out in front seems oblivious.
The shop keeper hasn't noticed someone with a large axe entering his shop or is not getting involved.
As soon as the male turns away, both he and the female customer are attacked in the head, the female then struck again while on the floor.
Jail
This happened in 2017 and the aggressor, has just had the initial nine year sentence successfully lengthened to fourteen as it was considered unusually lenient.
Amazing to think that you could commit something like this and receive sympathy from a judge isn't it?
Hair, beards and clothing as a defence
The male customer survived and “Medical staff said if (his) massive facial laceration was a millimetre above where it was, it could have had life-threatening consequences.”
The woman's dreadlocked hair was stated as being a contributing factor to her surviving as it blunted some of the effects of the weapon’s edge as well as cushioning some of the impact – she was still left with a fractured skull and ongoing “shooting pain down her arm and hand, chest pain and sleeping issues. “
I'd read an anecdotal account of a biker having his throat slashed in the US and the fact that he had a long beard had allegedly saved his life.
Here in this incident is evidence that hair – in this case, dreads, can be a deciding factor in the surviving of a weapon attack. Just as clothing like denim seams and leather jackets can disrupt the path of a knife slash, thick hair can also be seen here to have potentially lessened the impact cutting of the axe and also seemingly lessening the impact fracturing of the skull.
It's interesting as we are often told (and indeed find out…) that hair and beards are a liability in grappling and so on, which can certainly be true as they can be used as handles to control the head, cause pain and so on.
Some ancient armies would shave the front part of their heads so as not to be seized by the hair and cut down in sword fighting while crashing into the opposing army.
But here is a suggestion that in the case of an axe – a combination of edge and impact – that thick hair was an advantage for this woman – compare the injuries suffered by the man and woman, both were struck in the head, admittedly in different places but the difference in “lacerations” is interesting.
Some scientists talk of evolutionary benefits in protection from a punch afforded by a heavy beard – I certainly don't feel much benefit when I get caught in sparring.
Maybe they should try it?
355 - Hair, beards and clothing as a defence