Grandmother uses her lethal 'Manstopper' on machete-wielding thugs who broke into her home
A badass granny in the UK, 49-year-old Anji Rhys, has revealed that she shot a masked man with her crossbow after a machete-wielding gang barged into her home thinking it was a drugs den.
Rhys immediately picked up her weapon, affectionately nicknamed "Manstopper", after the four trespassers broke into her house on April 17 in Dunstable, Bedfordshire. The grandmother, who is an avid weapons fan, jumped into action when the men burst into the home while she was watching TV.
She told the Daily Mail: "I had finished work at about nine o'clock and got home. My partner was asleep on the sofa, my 82-year-old mum and my son were asleep upstairs. Ironically, I had put 24 hours in police custody on the television and it was 33 minutes in."
"I heard what I thought was a massive explosion and then I realized it was my front door that was being kicked in. I ran there and was met with a masked man with a hammer. He was about 6 foot 6 tall with a blue bandana hiding his face."
"I ran and grabbed my crossbow and had a little tussle with a second man who had a machete. He went to grab it , but I managed to spin and shoot him in the belly with it at close range."
"He shouted 'You f****** bitch, you shot me'. At that point he fell on me, cutting my hand with the machete. I tried to throw the cross bow through the window to raise the alarm but the curtains caught it like a goalie net."
Rhys said that her partner was able to push the man away from her. She also said that he was bleeding all over the floor, table, and door.
When she was asked why she kept the Redback Pistol crossbow in her home, she said: "It is a home defense weapon. I am a prepper I believe you should hope for the best and prepare for the worst. I wish I had another four cross bows. It is a man stopper. It is the most powerful pistol cross bow."
"I had it loaded. I practice with it in my garden, which is 130 feet long. The bolt I shot him with was dirty because I had been using it. It was six inches long and disappeared into him."
"He had to have gone somewhere for treatment. With that and all the blood, I am surprised the police have not picked him up. They must have come across him before. You don't just wake up one day and become an armed robber."
Previously, Rhys was a semi-professional Thai boxer. She said that the gang of men were all white and that they spoke with local accents. She added: "They were talking 'street' saying: 'Where's your grow? Where's your weed?'"
"There were four of them - all masked, white and skinny - one shot down to my cellar and one to my loft looking for a weed farm. Obviously, they didn't find anything. I don't know where they got there information wrong. I am nearly 50. I smoke it sometimes, but I don't grow it."
"They had been given some bad intelligence. They just kept shouting keep your f****** heads down. Where is your grow?"
In the statement that was made to the authorities, Rebecca, Rhys' partner, said that her son Dillon woke up after hearing noises downstairs and came down only to have garden shears used to threaten him.
She said: "Ms Rhys attempted to stand and was hit on the head with the hammer the tall man was wielding. All four men were in the front room now shouting 'Keep your f****** heads down. Where's the weed? Where's the grow?'"
"I held up a small container with about three joints in it and said we buy it we don't grow it. I said this two maybe three times before the tall man paid attention. He then said if we say anything or grow any weed they would come back and kill us."
The men then tried to leave but were not able to open the front door which that had locked with the chain. They then forced Dillon to let them out and then ran away in two different directions. The boy suffered bruises during the assault.
Rhys had injuries to her head, hand, and to the back of her leg from the attack. She left her job at a college in Luton after the attack on her home.
She said: "I am still patrolling the house. The police have taken my crossbow. I have got a knife in my pocket now. I am on three courses of medication - for post traumatic stress, sleeping, and anti depressants."
She then added: "The police said quietly 'well done.' Another said: 'F....good job'."
After the attempted robbery of her home, Rhys said that she has not had any trouble. A neighbor has even installed CCTV cameras around the home for them.
Lillian, Rhys' elderly mother, slept through the entire episode and had no clue what had transpired.
37-year-old Henry Vincent was stabbed by pensioner Richard Osborn-Brooks after the younger man had tried to rob the elderly man's home last week. Osborn-Brooks' wife, who has dementia, was in the house in Hither Green, south east London at the time.
The pensioner was arrested on suspicion of murder but was told two whole days later that he would not face any action.
Rhys' crossbow was confiscated by the police. It's the same weapon that she had used to defend her partner Rebecca McCarvel, and her son Dillon.
She had to leave the job she had at a call center because of the injuries she sustained to her head, hand, and legs. The granny is a survivalist and always keeps plenty of weapons to defend herself in the home including a knife and a torch by her bedside.
A spokesperson for the Bedfordshire police told The Sun: "We were called to reports of a burglary. Four men had forced entry armed with weapons. The occupant confronted the men and they fled after a short altercation."
"The victim told police she shot one intruder with a crossbow but we have so far been unable to trace any injured party."
This article has been reporinted with permission from The Daily Net