Respect your elders.
As simple as it sounds, some people just refuse to do it. Baffling, right? After all, the elderly often look after and care for the younger generations. Though some may view their concerns as unnecessary and nagging in nature, it often comes from a place of care and concern.
The numbers
Still, some younger folks just don’t feel the need to respect their elders. Unfortunately, according to figures obtained under Freedom of Information laws in the United Kingdom, violent assaults of victims at the age of 65 and older have increased by 183%. Shockingly, this jump occurred between 2007 and 2016.
Unfortunately, that figure increased to 258% ten years later in 2017.
However, some of these victims put up a fight! Take, for example, 77-year old Winifred Peel from Bromborough, Wirral in the United Kingdom. Though she might have been a statistic, she was not the sort of victim that robbers were hoping to attack.
The heroine
Peel had just left the bank when she recognized the faces of three young men — Piper Dumitru, Florin Geblescu, and Felix Stoica. She had the feeling that they weren’t from the area but nonetheless, she paid them little mind. Eventually, she decided to stop at an ATM machine, no longer concerned about the young men.
But as Peel was using the ATM, she noticed that there was someone standing very close to her right. That person began to push her and Peel recognized his face immediately. It was one of the young men that she suspected was from out of town earlier that day.
Little did they know, Peel goes to the gym religiously — four days a week, to be exact. Unluckily for him, she wouldn’t budge. She stood her ground, refusing to be knocked over.
“It’s not working,” the young man said.
That’s when another one of the robbers reached around and withdrew £200 from the ATM. Using her quick wit, Peel grabbed him by the collar and banged his head against the machine three times. Despite her resilience, the three robbers were able to get the cash and run off.
The win
However, things have a way of working out sometimes. Not long after the robbery, the three robbers were caught by the police. It turned out that the robber Peel had grabbed was Stoica, who has a record with numerous robbery convictions.
Clearly, Peel showed fearlessness, though she might not have felt it at the time.
“They did not care about how this would affect me. I would definitely say this has changed my life, I will never have the confidence I once did. I only hope my confidence returns.”
There is a video of the attack that shows Peel going after the young robbers. Peel disclosed that though she picked her credit card off the floor, she went after them anyway. In the video, she chases after them and relentlessly swings her purse at the robbers. All while, the three young men struggle to get away on a motorcycle.
Fortunately, the young men were sentenced to a young offenders’ institution (equivalent to a juvenile detention center in the United States). Stoica, 19, received two years; Geblescu, 18, received 18 months; Dumitru, 18, was sentenced to eight months.
Way to go, Winifred Peel! Shame on these young men for attacking any woman, let alone an elderly woman. You can see footage of the robbery and Peel’s brave response, here!
Please SHARE this with your friends and family.
