Miriam Carrington defended herself and her family using a Samurai sword when three intruders broke into her home.

Rehan Malik and two other intruders broke into the Carringtons’ home at 5:30 am on October 25.

According to The Mirror, after the intruders broke into the couple’s home in Shipley, West Yorkshire, they demanded that Miriam and Martin Carrington give them the keys to their Audi. Thankfully, Martin had managed to run upstairs, call 999, and grab a Samurai sword. The married couple had purchased the sword for $100 on the Internet ten years ago and they had never unsheathed it. Instead, they had used it as an ornament. Upon hearing their car start, the couple had realized that the intruders had found their keys. Although one of the intruders had managed to start the car, the vehicle had reportedly gotten stuck in the garage doors.

Miriam had then used the sword to defend herself.

The 56-year-old woman had taken the sword and gone to the garage. Pointing the blade at the intruder, she had ordered him to wait for the police to arrive. Instead of doing this, Malik had grabbed the blade in an attempt to wrestle it out of Miriam’s hands. “I was really scared, but had no idea the blade was so sharp and I didn’t think the idiot would grab the blade,” Miriam explained after Malik was jailed at Bradford Crown Court, reported Daily Mail. The sword had sliced through Malik’s hands, severing his nerves. The intruders had allegedly gotten away using their own vehicle and had driven 30 miles before taking Malik to a hospital. According to the Daily Mail, a nurse had told Malik that “he would have died from blood loss without medical attention”.

The woman commented on the incident:

I suppose I just went into crazy mode. I held the blade towards him to stop him moving and then the silly idiot, who was wearing gloves, grabbed the blade with both hands. I then pulled it back towards me and that is when it has sliced through his hands.

Miriam was absolved of any blame as the judge told Malik that he was to blame for his injuries.

Judge Jonathan Rose jailed Malik for three years and eight months, saying that he is the one to blame for his life-changing injuries. Addressing Malik, the judge reportedly said, “You have no one at all to blame for the injuries to your hands other than yourself.” Moreover, Judge Jonathan Rose also absolved Miriam of any blame. Commenting on this, she said “I was never under any suspicion of using too much force and the police who arrived said immediately that I had acted in self-defence. But I do have a conscience and I don’t think I could have coped if he’d died.”