By Luke Voogt
Rippleside mother Marianne Valitutti made international headlines this week after using her Muay Thai skills to scare three would-be thieves from her partner’s Drumcondra home.
“They were looking for cash,” she told the Indy proudly.
“They got away with nothing.”
“I just put my guard up and they knew not to mess with me – they knew this woman meant business. Girl power!”
The mother of two was sick and resting in bed after her partner, hotelier George Ramia, had left for work.
“George was home an hour before and he came to check on me because I was unwell,” the 47-year-old said.
“He was going back to work and said he would be home later.”
At 4.30pm, Marianne woke to a “shuffling” in the wardrobe.
“I thought wow that was quick, he’s home early,” she said.
But she instead found a teen rummaging through the wardrobe, who had no idea as she was there when she rose to confront him.
“I was under the blankets,” she said.
Marianne flowed into a Muay Thai fighting stance as she approached the youth.
“I’ve come forward with my hand up,” she said. “What am I supposed to do, just stand there?”
Security camera captures the raiders.
“It all came natural to me. I knew how to defend myself. If he had at come at me I would have known what to do.
“At first he didn’t turn around. I’m like ‘who the hell are you and what are you doing here?’ This kid – he was 16 or 17 year old – he went as white as a sheet.”
The teen, who was wearing a light-grey hooded jumper, tried to conceal his face and fled.
“He seemed to know exactly where to go,” Marianne said.
The brave mother chased the youth down corridor towards the back door.
“The adrenaline – oh my god, it just kicked in like that,” she said.
“I never thought I would have that in me.”
It was there she spotted a second teen in a red hooded jumper who she said looked younger than the first youth.
“He looked like he didn’t want to be there, he was so frightened. He’s just s**t himself,” she said.
“The other one that’s in the lounge room has heard what’s happening and ran off.”
Security camera footage recorded the three youths fleeing through the back door. The footage showed Marianne angrily pointing her finger.
“I’m yelling ‘I know who you are. I’ve seen your faces. You’re not getting away with this’,” she said.
“I’m not going to say exactly what I said but there was a bit of colourful language.
“When we went to have a look at the footage I was thinking ‘oh my god this looks more comical than anything else’. I looked like an Italian nonna.”
Amazingly, it was the fifth time thieves had targeted the home in two years, Marianne said.
“I can’t believe this has happened.”
Marianne credited her courageous actions to her five years training in Muay Thai.
“Other people might have just stood there in shock and not done a thing,” she said.
“The first thing in my mind was ‘protect yourself’. It was only after they fled that I was bit shaken.”
Marianne called triple zero and police arrived five minutes later.
“That was really good to know, too, that the police were in the area and were able to arrive when they did.”
George posted the video, which was snapped up by media outlets across Australia and the world.
“I’m very overwhelmed, it was just a video put up to find out whether anybody has seen these kids because we just wanted them caught.
“The next thing we know it’s just gone viral. I had phone calls from everyone, they were all so concerned.”
Media outlets rang Marianne repetitively throughout the week but she had agreed to speak exclusively to the Indy.
Marianne works for Geelong Coast Magazine, the Indy’s sister publication, both of which are owned by Star News Group.
“I wanted to be loyal to the company I work for,” she said.
And Marianne had a message for the teens.
“Why cause misery and problems to other people. Grow up, think, get a job. You could cause a little old lady a heart attack.”
