Posted on 08/01/2004 7:29:42 AM PDT by Mr. Mojo
THE security guard who shot and killed a robber who bashed her has spoken about her ordeal for the first time.
Shaking and crying, a traumatised Karen Brown, 42, said yesterday she had feared for her life as she was punched in the head several times by William Aquilina, who was armed with a knuckle duster.
"I was so scared," she said of the ambush and shooting outside a hotel in Sydney's southwest last Monday morning.
Ms Brown suffered a fractured skull, a fractured eye socket, a fractured nose, a fractured left hand and possible brain damage when the 25-year-old grabbed her hair, king-hit her and then battered her to the ground.
The convicted criminal then dragged her across the bitumen towards a stolen getaway car before she could release a bag containing between $30,000 and $50,000 in hotel takings. Moments later, a bleeding Ms Brown, who was dressed in casual clothes and whose gun had been concealed, shot Aquilina as he sat in the car.
Surrounded by her family, Ms Brown tried to recall the incident that left her covered in blood in the hotel car park.
"I looked up through a bloody haze," Ms Brown said. "I did not know where I was or exactly what had happened to me. All I knew was that blood was pouring into my eyes and my head was throbbing."
Despite her injuries, which also include severe concussion and a floating bone fragment behind her eyeball, Ms Brown said she felt sympathy for Aquilina's family and expressed remorse for what had occurred.
"I really feel sorry for his family," said Ms Brown, who has been a security guard for four years. "It must be awful. I just wish this had never happened. It's been a terrible week."
Ms Brown had been collecting and banking the pub's takings for the past five months.
"Nothing like this has ever happened before and nothing prepares you for this," she said.
Ms Brown's sister, Katrina, said the incident had been devastating.
"It has completely wrecked her life," she said at the Sydney home Ms Brown shares with her de facto, George Muratore. "She's a complete mental and physical wreck. This is the worst thing that's ever happened in her life. She has never hurt anybody or anything before and it's completely crushed her."
Mr Muratore's father, Vic, 73, said he believed Ms Brown should not be punished.
"She should not be charged -- I would have done the same thing," he said. "If you pay me to protect, I have to protect. Everybody reckons she's a champion.
"We have known her for seven years and she is a very decent person -- she is a good person.
"I say sorry for the other people, but you deserve what you get when you do something like that."
But Aquilina's grandfather, retired policeman Frank Rasmussen, has said Ms Brown should be charged.
"He was murdered," Mr Rasmussen said. "That woman should have torn into that hotel as soon as she alleges she was hit and she should have asked for help. Instead, she advanced on my grandson and shot him in cold blood.
"She's just a bitch. Sorry."
Mr Rasmussen said he was upset by how his grandson -- who has convictions for drugs and robbery -- had been portrayed.
"They're saying he's a rotten dangerous criminal and he's not. He's lovable," he said. "We still don't believe he's done this on his own -- he's too good a person.
"He's never been involved in anything like this in almost 26 years that we've known him. It's not in his nature."
Ms Brown underwent further medical tests on Thursday. Detectives are not expecting to speak to her until tomorrow.
Channel 7 has secured Ms Brown for the only television interview, on Today Tonight, tomorrow night.
This is madness!!! Just look at the poor woman's injuries. She did all a favor for offing him.
Gun control in action.
Charging the victim with self-defense? The pommification of a once-proud society continues...
OK
If she would have just let the guy beat her to death, every thing would have been just fine. She should be prosecuted for saving herself by killing him.
Amen.She deserves a medal,not prosecution.
Yeah beat a womans skull in, he is SO lovable.
This guy needs a bullet too for raising trash like this, then defneding him when he robs and beats women.
Too bad she didn't save a couple rounds for Mr. Rasmussen.
I wonder what she was packing. Whatever it was, it did the job. Good for her. I do hope she beats the "murder" rap.
"He was murdered," Mr Rasmussen said. "That woman should have torn into that hotel as soon as she alleges she was hit and she should have asked for help. Instead, she advanced on my grandson and shot him in cold blood.
and your grandson approached her in cold blood and beat her and left her for dead!
the a**hole had a weapon, and used it to attack someone in plain clothes. that isnt even the robber trying to cover his tracks. thats the robber taking a random target and beating it in a fit of adrenaline.
Putting her in jail fits the Marxist agenda. Communists don't like tough people who fight back. They want people who take their beatings quietly and shuffle away with their head down. If they live to work another day for the state, that's all they deserve.
I'm betting he was coked-up or on meth.
"She's just a bitch. Sorry."
Yeah she deserved it. She was in the way of the robber.
"Mr Rasmussen said he was upset by how his grandson -- who has convictions for drugs and robbery -- had been portrayed."
Yeah, he's really a nice guy. Look at what he did for this security guard:
Ms Brown suffered a fractured skull, a fractured eye socket, a fractured nose, a fractured left hand and possible brain damage when the 25-year-old grabbed her hair, king-hit her and then battered her to the ground.
The convicted criminal then dragged her across the bitumen towards a stolen getaway car before she could release a bag containing between $30,000 and $50,000 in hotel takings. Moments later, a bleeding Ms Brown, who was dressed in casual clothes and whose gun had been concealed, shot Aquilina as he sat in the car.
"They're saying he's a rotten dangerous criminal and he's not. He's lovable," he said. "We still don't believe he's done this on his own -- he's too good a person.
No your son is wonderful! This is very typical of such a good person:
Shaking and crying, a traumatised Karen Brown, 42, said yesterday she had feared for her life as she was punched in the head several times by William Aquilina, who was armed with a knuckle duster.
"He's never been involved in anything like this in almost 26 years that we've known him. It's not in his nature."
He's a "convicted criminal with drug charges" beats this woman with a knuckle duster and yet she has the nerve to say the above?
take your blood pressure medicine before you read this!
That figures. This clown is part of the law-enforcement caste that has successfully put themselves and their familes above everybody else. No need to look at realities, just keep living the lies that made your grandson the psycho that he is, buddy. With family like this that enables criminal behavior, no wonder the perp is the way he is.
For elaboration on this, read Solzhenitsyn's The Gulag Archipelago. In the Soviet days, thieves and murderers were considered by the state to be "socially friendly elements," and they were used by the communist government to torment political prisoners in the Gulag.
She used a knucklehead duster.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.