One Saturday in February, Bridgerton actress Genevieve Chenneour did something entirely typical for a 27-year-old. She and her then-boyfriend, along with her black maltipoo Ralph, went to Joe And The Juice on London’s Kensington High Street. She ordered a flat white and sat down to wait.
The moment Genevieve Chenneour realises a thief has taken her phone
What happened next was entirely untypical. Chenneour noticed a pair of young men, around 20, clad all in black, walking back and forth through the store, before one crept up behind her while she was seated at the counter and stole her phone. The whole thing was caught on CCTV in footage that would later go viral. It wasn’t because Londoners were outraged about phone-snatching or because a famous actress was robbed, but because Chenneour (Hollywood-beautiful and a slight 60kg) disarmed him and, with her boyfriend’s help, pinned him to the floor in around 30 seconds.
THE KICK Use a chest kick if an attacker is rushing towards you and you need to create distance. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. Raise your dominant knee to your chest, then snap your foot forward, aiming the ball of your foot at the attacker’s chest. Lean back slightly for balance and power. Ideally, keep your hands up to guard your face. After contact, run quickly if possible.
‘My brain was all over the place,’ Chenneour says. ‘When I watched the video a few days later, I barely recognised my actions.’ Those actions were impressive. Chenneour grabbed the attacker’s arm, pushed her 6ft assailant in the throat, snatched her phone back mid-scuffle and jabbed its corner, hard, into his ribs. It’s a move she’s particularly proud of. ‘People don’t realise, but your phone is a really good weapon,’ she says. That’s evidenced by the clip, in which the would-be thief ends up sprawled on the coffee shop floor.
THE KNEE STRIKE If your arms are grabbed, stay calm and ground yourself by planting your feet firmly. Lift one knee sharply toward the attacker’s groin or stomach, both vulnerable and effective targets. Lean back slightly for balance. Engage your hips to drive power into the strike. After impact, try to break free and escape.
She might look more Bridgerton debutante than Kill Bill, but Chenneour is deceptively tough. Her father, Tim Randall, was a British Army officer and she was a ‘very physical’ child, representing Team GB as an artistic swimmer. After an injury, she went into stunt work before acting and had fight choreography training with the same boxing coach as Jason Momoa and Charlize Theron. ‘I also have three brothers, and we’d have massive wrestling matches as kids. Honestly, boys don’t scare me.’
The key, Chenneour says, is to accept that, when attacked, ‘your mind will go blank. But if you’ve learnt how to fight back, you can go into autopilot and unconsciously defend yourself.’ That’s something 41-year-old martial arts expert Joanna Ziobronowicz agrees with. She founded Women’s Self-Defense UK, which runs workshops teaching basic steps to use if you’re a victim of an assault. We brought the two women together here to demonstrate five essential self-defence moves for YOU readers.
THE ELBOW STRIKE If an attacker grabs your arms and steps in close, twist your body to loosen their grip. Raise one elbow close to your body and drive it sharply into the attacker’s jaw, nose or side of the head. Twist your hips and shoulders to add power. Aim for soft targets. After impact, break free and run.
‘During an attack,’ Ziobronowicz explains, ‘you experience an amygdala hijack, in which the brain’s fear centre takes over. Your body freezes and your fine motor skills – complicated movements with your hands, for example – are impaired. But your gross motor skills are maintained, so simple moves like palm strikes and basic pushes are vital.’ Her overriding advice to women? ‘Men are often bigger and stronger, and if we don’t quickly hurt them, we are likely to lose the fight. Strike the person, break away and then run – especially if there are multiple attackers or they have a weapon.’
Chenneour didn’t realise her assailant had backup who claimed to have a knife. After restraining the first man, the accomplice approached her, threatened to stab her, and helped the phone snatcher escape. The first attacker, Zacariah Boulares, 18, was later arrested for a string of muggings and jailed for 22 months. A 19-year-old man was also arrested but released without charge.
THE GROIN PUNCH If caught in a headlock, stay calm and drop your weight to lower your centre of gravity. Use your free arm to punch downward hard between the attacker’s legs, aiming for the groin. Keep striking fast and with force. If possible, use your elbow on their ribs, too. Target soft areas relentlessly and when their grip loosens, break free quickly and run.
‘I feel quite traumatised by that,’ Chenneour says, ‘and I still don’t feel safe in public spaces.’ After breaking up with her partner, she left her London home of seven years and moved back with her mother in Portsmouth, too scared to live alone in case the accomplice came after her. ‘I feel like my life has shrunk, and there’s some shame that I’ve been so affected by the event. I’ve felt so alone, and there’s not a system there to help women like me process something like this.’
The greatest support has come from strangers – especially other women – who have experienced similar assaults. ‘People message me and say, “I didn’t fight back but watching you strike that attacker gives me satisfaction.”’ Chenneour hopes to work with a women’s safety charity and believes school-age girls should be taught basic self-defence ‘to stop the pattern of boys grabbing you, slapping your bum, hitting you, and girls just having to get on with it.
FRAMING If an attacker locks around your neck, bring both hands up. Aim your dominant hand’s flat palm at the attacker’s jaw at a 90-degree angle and extend your other arm straight with a flat palm as support. Push forward firmly and quickly, aiming to shove their face or upper body away from you. Use your legs to drive the force. Step back immediately to create distance and escape.
‘Women need to be able to stand their own ground and be taught to defend themselves rather than tolerate s**t happening to them,’ she says. ‘Let us be fierce and fight back. The world needs more of that.’
To find out more about Joanna’s self-defence training and safety skills workshops for women, contact womenselfdefense.co.uk
Hair: Dayna Vaughan-Teague.
Make-up: Levi-Jade Taylor at Carol Hayes.
Styling Jessica Carroll.
