Girl, eight, fends off kidnapper with martial arts move when he snatches her from her own bed
The child's mother said her daughter came and told her what had happened after he had fled
A LITTLE girl who had been learning kung-fu fended off a kidnapper when he snatched her from her own bed.
The eight-year-old’s mother spoke out about what happened and how the martial arts moves may have saved her daughter’s life.
Speaking to , the woman, from El Capon, San Diego, US, said the little girl woke up at 4am in the morning to find herself being carried down stairs.
They were almost at the bottom when she applied pressure to his throat, which she had learnt to do in her classes.
The woman, who was not identified, said: “I'm relieved that this is the story I get to tell - that she's in my home, here and safe.
“My kids are supposed to be safe while they are sleeping.”
The little girl was in the room with her six-year-old brother, and she went in to wake her parents and tell them what had happened.
They found the front door open.
The woman said her daughter described the man as a tanned adult, he had dark “fluffy” hair and he smelt of “garbage.”
She also said he had a thin build and was between five-feet, eight-inches to five-feet, ten-inches tall.
The little girl was not injured luckily – police think he gained access through a window as the screen was removed on a window in another building.
The woman now has surveillance cameras in the house: “This is proof, there could be a chance that you might need to (use self-defense moves).
“(He) could have taken my TV, anything, but (he) wanted the most valuable thing we have.”
The woman said of her brave daughter: “She's scared but she's also empowered. She's learned some tools that will last her a lifetime, she's okay, but she's going to be safe because we're going to protect her even more now.”