Interview with 14-year-old rugby player who stopped muggger
Interview with 14-year-old rugby player who stopped muggger

A French mum says she is proud of the man her formerly frail son is turning into after he took up rugby and tackled a violent mugger at the weekend who had run off with a woman's purse.The lad, Ilies Pellisson, is just 14 years old and plays rugby (second row) for Aviron Bayonnais.He lives with his family in Bayonne, a city in the south-western French department of Pyrenees-Atlantiques, and on the day of the attack he had gone to the beach in the nearby town of Biarritz with his brother.He said they were waiting for a bus in Ixelles square, which is just next to the police station, at around 2pm on Sunday (13th September).But the quiet was shattered when a retired woman, whose exact age is unclear, started screaming.Ilies quickly realised she was being robbed.He told Real Press what happened next in an exclusive interview: "We heard a woman scream.

There was a man.

It looked like he was pulling her arm.

But actually he was pulling on her purse.

My brother and I didn’t move, in case he had a weapon.

We didn’t know.

But then the man started to run away."But there was a dead end.

So he ran back towards us.

I told the lady I was going after him."I ran after him and hit him on the back of the head.

On the skull.

He fell on the ground." He said he was relieved to see the blow had knocked the fight out of the mugger and added he could see he was afraid.