The amount of friends who have been mugged in my lifetime is astounding – and many of them don’t defend themselves, because danger. But there’s always this big talk of “If I got my hands on him I would…” and yet, nothing.

So what happens when someone actually defends themselves?

Enter Nathan Wood, who punched a dude unconscious after a knife was held to his chest in Stellenbosch over the weekend. Okay, okay, people called him a racist for posting the smug-looking selfie – check it:

The situation occurred in the early hours of Saturday morning, and according to Wood, 27, after he punched the dude once in the jaw, the rest of the story went a little like this:

Looking at the selfie, some people think I look arrogant… this guy went out with intent, with purpose, to rob. I am glad it happened to me and not some 18-year-old first-year student.

At the time, the adrenaline was rushing, but then I was also thinking about the guy’s circumstances and why he is robbing.

I had sympathy with the man, but not with his actions.

I dragged him out the street, took his jacket off and put it under his head. I turned him onto his side in the recovery position. I wanted to make sure he was okay. People are fragile, I felt remorse.

I phoned police and tried to stop passing cars. I took the man’s wallet and handed it to security guards and explained what had happened. I left my contact details with them, but have yet to hear from anyone.

At first, Wood recalled the robbers being friendly, following him down an alley and then asking him for cash. How did Wood respond? According to News24:

“They then asked for my wallet and cellphone. I was like, ‘Absolutely not. These are my possessions and I am not willing to share.’”

Wood said he remembered the knife being held to his chest. He had tunnel vision and could not remember what was happening with the accomplice and his friend.

Trained in self-defence, he waited as the mugger patted him down and used the chance to get out of the situation with a punch.

The photo was later posted on his Facebook page, with the text, “So I know one mugger in Stellenbosch who isn’t too thrilled about his choice of victim at 4am.”

While many have deemed him racist for taking the selfie, I can assure you that others would have taken the situation to another level. While he received both positive (maybe a bit too positive) and negative comments, comedian Siv Ngesi jumped to his defense:

I once kicked a dude for trying to take my phone. He was so shocked at the response he froze, dropped his knife and ran away. I was too hungover to take a selfie, though.

[source:news24]