Perth women arm themselves with tasers, pocket knives and aerosol to defend against violent attackers

Perth women are so worried about their safety on the streets they’re arming themselves with tasers, pocket knives and even aerosol deodorant to fend off random attacks. A special investigation by The West Australian has exposed the shocking undercurrent of fear felt by women as they go about their daily lives. In the wake of the recent jailing of a man who posed as an Uber driver to prey on a young woman trying to get home from Northbridge, more than 100 women came forward to detail the extraordinary lengths they take to prepare for a similar attack. And a rise in random acts of violence has prompted a Perth martial arts school to provide free personal protection classes for women to teach them how to look after themselves in confronting, real-word scenarios. Women have told how they carry sharp hairpins, heavy water bottle or pepper spray just to feel safe outside their homes. Others reported keeping a screwdriver in their car or never leaving home without an AirTag so loved ones could keep tabs on their whereabouts. One woman, who did not want to be identified, said walking home in the dark “felt less like a commute and more like a risk-calculation”. “As a neurodivergent woman I typically wear noise-reducing headphones to manage sensory overwhelm, but once the sun sets, I take them off — I need all my senses sharp,” she said. “I wear my hair in a tight bun, never a pony tail. I don’t wear sandals, only sneakers, double-knotted. “I always share my location in a WhatsApp chat with my husband or mum and I never leave the house without telling someone where I’m going.” The 38-year-old said she was acquaintances with Eurydice Dixon — the 22-year-old comedian stalked, raped and murdered by James Todd in a Melbourne park in 2018. “Since then I have never felt truly safe,” the woman said. “For me, it’s not about staying safe, it’s about being prepared for danger before it appears. “I once heard someone say if you’re being assaulted, yell ‘fire’ because it’s more likely to get someone’s attention . . . how sad is that?” Another woman said when she goes for a walk, “I always say hello to everyone I pass in the hope that if I go missing they will remember me”. Another said she always has a “small deodorant can . . . ready to spray in their face”. In an extreme example, one 54-year-old mother told The West she had been carrying a taser in her handbag “for years”. “It’s for my own safety because you never know what’s going to happen,” the woman said. “I also keep a broken pool cue in my car in case of road rage. “I don’t walk around the city by myself because otherwise I’m vulnerable . . . I’m scared and frightened because (the legal system) favours people that cause harm.” Carrying a taser is against the law in WA. Clare Connor, who has waived her right to anonymity, was 22 years old when she was sexually assaulted by Michael Pena Chavez, who had posed as a rideshare driver to take her home after a Saturday night out in Northbridge in 2022. Once in the car, Chavez told Ms Connor — who was sitting in the front passenger seat — he was not her Uber driver but would drive her home for free. He then sexually assaulted her twice, ignoring her pleas to stop. Last month, he was jailed for five and a half years, with District Court Judge Charlotte Wallace describing his actions as an “egregious breach of trust”. More than three years after the assault, Ms Connor said she was still “petrified”. “I remember going out into the city for the first time after it happened . . . I was just really cautious of everything that was going on,” she said. “If I couldn’t see one of my friends I would just freak out. I had to be with someone or a group of people just to feel safe.” The 25-year-old said she no longer ordered rideshare vehicles “unless I have no other choice”. “The other night I had to get into an Uber because I was going home from my parents house at 11pm . . . so my dad had to come out with me before I got into the Uber,” she said. “I had to send a screenshot of the driver’s details and I had a friend stay on the phone with me . . . it’s still petrifying.” Given the shocking prevalence of random attacks on women Life Martial Arts has launched free personal protection workshops to teach people how to defend themselves against a violent attacker. The workshops — which include both theoretical and practical training — replicate “real world” scenarios like physical assaults, attacks from rideshare drivers and road rage incidents. Its co-founder Phil Britten — who runs it with his wife, Rebecca — says he started the workshops after seeing a rise in “random acts of violence”. While WA Police do not breakdown assault statistics by gender, there were 17,654 violent assaults last year, a 6 per cent increase on the year prior. This year alone, there have been almost 10,000. Those figures do not include incidents of domestic violence. “Violence is prevalent and there’s a lot of evidence to suggest it is on the rise,” Mr Britten, who survived the Bali bombings in 2002. “Random acts of violence are happening to every day people doing every day life,” he told The West. “It could be a home invasion, it could be that you’ve accidentally cut someone off the road and now someone’s banging on your window, or it could, God forbid, be a serial killer.” Mr Britten said, “When a lion wakes up in the jungle, it doesn’t look for the fittest, fastest gazelle — it looks for the weak and the brittle. “By coming to these classes you’re building confidence . . . you’re going to walk and talk differently and that will stop an attack because violent people are looking for easy targets,” he said. Mrs Britten admitted it was disappointing women had to learn self defence. But she said it was better than “not knowing anything at all”. “It’s like doing swimming lessons . . . if your boat goes down and you’re in the middle of the ocean, knowing how to swim will give you a better chance, it might not be everything, but it gives you a chance,” she said. “People think their superhuman instincts will kick in if they’re attacked but it’s not the case . . . a lot of people freeze, so you have to make a decision about what you’re going to do next to defend yourself.” Ms Connor backed the idea of free female safety workshops but questioned why women should have to change their behaviour in order to feel safe around men. “Men who assault women do it because they think they’re small, weak and vulnerable,” she said. “It’s just so horrible that we’re a target because of the way men view women . . . they think, ‘oh yeah, I can totally force her to do things’. “Why do women have to go through all this trouble just so a man can’t sexually assault us? Men don’t have to change sh.., but we have to change our whole life.” Centre for Women’s Safety and Wellbeing chief executive Alison Evans said she was troubled that women were forced to take pack pocket knives that look like keys and other makeshift weapons to stay safe. “It should be extremely concerning to everyone that many women do not feel safe in our community and we cannot accept this as normal,” she said. “Women have the right to live free from violence and fear, and to have access (to) the support they deserve to heal after violence.” Ms Evans also said the responsibility of gender-based violence fell on men. “The responsibility should not be on women to have to protect themselves, the responsibility is on men who choose to use violence and they must be held accountable,” she said. “As a community we need to make it clear we do not accept violence against women and we are willing to hold men to account for their actions.” Ms Evans said gender-based violence was preventable and that men also needed to speak up and exemplify respectful behaviour. She also called on the WA Government to invest in crisis-response and long-term recovery services. “We need men to role-model respectful behaviour towards women in our community,” Ms Evans said. “For far too long, there has been a piecemeal approach to this issue, with our responses not being implemented properly as funding has never matched the scale of the crisis. “Our ‘reforms’ at times have been superficial, rushed with inadequate money to support proper implementation. “It’s this bigger picture that we must focus on if we are truly to address violence against women in our community.”