Sarah Motawi: Woman used taekwondo during ‘principled’ CBD fight
A group of men thought it was all a big joke when they made lewd comments towards an aspiring vet nurse on a night out. However, their target just happened to be a taekwondo master who ‘fought back’.
Central Sydney
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A taekwondo master said her “training took over” during a CBD street fight after her boyfriend allegedly tried to defend her honour from a group of men who directed lewd comments at her.
Sarah Motawi, 27, told the court she regrettably “fought back”, assaulting one of the four men, after they made “inappropriate comments” about her appearance as they passed her and her partner around midnight outside KFC George St.
Motawi’s lawyer told the court the comments on July 19 amounted to “sexual harassment”.
Motawi, from Padstow, and her now-fiance Abdulrahman Abdulla had headed out to the city after a party at a friend’s place where Motawi had consumed cocaine, the court heard.
According to Motawi, co-accused Abdulla allegedly followed the men, demanding they apologise to her for the sexual comments.
In a letter to the court, Motawi, an aspiring vet nurse, said her partner’s attempt was met with laughter by the group.
One of the men stopped, Motawi said, and asked Abdulla: “Would you like to see what would happen when it’s four against one?”
Abdulla then pushed one of the men in the chest, according to the police facts.
Abdulla took a swing at another man, before Motawi, who the court heard had practised taekwondo for 12 years and was even offered a position on the Egyptian National Team, approached the same man, and kicked him twice.
The man tried to step back from Motawi but she continued to “make advances towards (him)”, the police facts read, before then trying to strike him with her knee.
The couple then walked away towards Town Hall Station, when one of the men approached them to pick up his jacket, which had fallen off during the fight, the police facts read.
Another fight broke out.
Despite Motawi’s efforts to hold Abdulla back, he punched the man, grabbed him around the arms and pushed him to the ground, according to the police facts.
When the man stood up, Abdulla punched him twice in the head, put him in a headlock and slammed him to the ground.
Motawi tried to hold her partner back again, before Abdulla attempted to strike one of the men.
Motawi then kicked towards the group multiple times but her kicks were blocked.
Finally the two groups went their separate ways.
Police arrived soon after and arrested Motawi and her partner, later finding a small amount of cocaine on her.
In a letter to the court, Motawi wrote: “Everything was so intense. A lot of things were happening, strangers everywhere were fighting and screaming and it was all so much. As I was not in my right mind, I fought back and for that I am very disappointed with myself.”
She added: “I understand that we could have simply run away but my training took over me and I had to stand my ground.”
Motawi said she was raised in a conservative household in Egypt, where she was physically abused by her father, and told the court “taekwondo was my way to defend myself physically”.
The waitress pleaded guilty to affray and possess a prohibited drug and was convicted and fined $1250.
Abdulla has pleaded guilty to affray and will be sentenced on November 11.