By Glen Atwell
WOULD-BE crooks watch out, you might have met your match!
Berwick resident Tunel Hulusi received a rousing applause when awarded a Victoria Police Citizen’s Commendation at a graduation ceremony last Friday after an amazing act of bravery.
The 18-year-old chased and apprehended an armed robber in Fitzroy Gardens earlier this month and hasn’t ruled out a future career in the force.
A Noble Park Secondary College student, Tunel, who has just completed her VCE, was walking through the gardens with her mum on 12 November when she saw the two offenders fleeing and a distressed man screaming for assistance.
“First a man ran past me and threw a wallet into the bushes, I thought that was weird, then another man ran past me and threw something else into the gardens, that’s when I knew something was wrong,” Tunel said.
But it wasn’t until Tunel saw the victim clutching his throat – which had been viciously threatened with a knife – that she felt the sudden impulse to act.
“He was holding his throat and shouting for help, so I threw my bag down and started chasing one of the offenders,” she said.
At the time, with adrenalin pumping, Tunel didn’t think of the possible consequences.
“I’ve never done anything like that before, I didn’t have time to stop and think, I just started running,” she said.
Tunel managed to get a hand on the left shoulder of the fleeing bandit, spun him around, threw him to the ground and proceeded to ‘rough him up’.
“I grabbed hold of him and just kept him there, he tried to get away but I made sure he wasn’t going anywhere,” Tunel said.
Park rangers soon arrived and subdued the man until police arrived.
Tunel and her mum had been walking to the nearby Freemasons’ Hospital to visit her sick grandfather and had quite a story to tell when they finally arrived.
“It took almost two and half hours to give a statement to the police and all that but we finally made it to the hospital,” she laughed.
As a result of her quick-thinking actions, all stolen property was recovered and both offenders were charged with armed robbery and theft.
The offenders were sentenced to three years’ imprisonment with a minimum 20 months, and two years and nine months’ imprisonment with a minimum of 18 months.
As for Tunel, a career in the police force isn’t out of the question.
“My uncle is a police officer and it’s something I’d like to do.
“But I have interests in journalism and landscape design as well, so I’ll have to think about it,” Tunel said.
The bandits of Berwick are already losing sleep at night.
