Iqaluit woman thwarts attacker

SARA MINOGUE

An Iqaluit woman successfully punched, kicked and threatened a would-be attacker last Saturday after he forced his way into her home.

Grace Livingstone (not her real name) was alone at a house in the 200s when she answered the door around noon to a man who said, “Do you want to buy a carving?”

As he said it, he pushed her inside the house. She immediately responded by saying, “you can’t come in here.”

He ignored her, and put her into a chokehold. Livingstone could see a long kitchen knife out of her peripheral vision.

She grabbed the knife by the blade and took it out of his hand. Next, he started punching her in the head.

Afraid she might be killed, she took a moment to react.

“I realized that I was the only one who could protect myself, and that I had a right to protect myself,” Livingstone said. “That’s when I started stabbing at his leg.”

That encouraged the man to release Livingstone enough that she could face him, though he was still holding onto her. She kicked him in the groin, weakening him more.

“Then I remembered my Grade 10 physical education self defence course, when they said, ‘Go for the eyes.'”

Livingstone jabbed her thumb into his eye and pressed down, just enough to scare him.

The whole time, she was screaming, “I’m gonna kill you if you don’t leave my house. I’m gonna stab you in the eye if you don’t leave my house.”

The man replied, “Give me my knife back.”

Luckily, the knee to the groin had weakened him enough that she could get him off the door, enough to open it and run outside.

She then threw the knife away, still screaming at the man to go away, and ran to a neighbor’s house to call the RCMP, who later arrived on the scene.

During the fight, Livingstone’s glasses were knocked off, blurring her vision. She identified the attacker as a man in his 40s wearing a black ski jacket.

“It took me a second to realize, you have a right to fight this person. Don’t be polite, don’t smile and say, no thank you, I don’t want a carving. You have a right to hurt this person and you need to because there’s no one else here who can help you.”

Police have not located the man.