Heroic act: Man fights off attacker with bat to save neighbour

Bodey Foley was honoured at the NZ Bravery Awards. Photo / Bodey Foley
By RNZ
A Wellington man has described the empty eyes of an assailant who repeatedly attacked his neighbour with a large kitchen knife.
He said he had to hit the man multiple times with a softball bat before his family could pull the bleeding victim to safety.
Bodey Foley was honoured at the New Zealand Bravery Awards last week for his role in saving the life of his neighbour.
A record 38 people were lauded for feats of bravery in events including armed assaults, the Christchurch mosque attacks and the floods of early 2023.
A commotion outside the family home
Foley said his family were watching a movie during lockdown in 2020 when his daughter heard a commotion on the deck outside their home.
“I walked to the window, opened the curtain and turned on the outdoor light and that’s when [I’ve] seen [him] on top of his mother stabbing her. She was lying down in front of the door and he kept repeatedly stabbing her,” Foley said.
Foley, a long-time softball player and coach, grabbed a softball bat from his gear bag by the door. He forced his way out on to the deck as he kicked out at the man.
“I tried to kick him off her and he pulled the knife out and looked towards me. I said ‘hey what’s going on?’ and I whacked him over the head with the softball bat.
“When I hit him it didn’t really do anything, so I froze for a couple of seconds. He went to get off her to come at me and I hit him again and he fell off the porch.”
The pair struggled together as Foley yelled to his terrified family to pull the bleeding woman into their lounge and lock the door.
Blows did nothing to him’
It would take two more blows about the head before the young man momentarily dropped the knife and fled, with Foley in pursuit.
“It did nothing to him. I was quite shocked that he did not go down. I was fearing for my life and everyone else’s.”
Foley would later learn his neighbour’s son was having a schizophrenic episode and the woman had crawled nearly 40 metres to their home as he attacked her.
“She was crawling for her life while he was stabbing her and there was blood everywhere. There was a blood trail from her house to mine, my lounge room was just covered in blood.”
Foley said the man seemed immune to the heavy blows and – in his state – he seemed to have the strength of a much larger person.
“His eyes, it was like there was nothing there. His eyes were huge.
“I’m pretty well-known for being a good hitter and I hit him four times, as hard as I could.
“When I hit him he just looked at me and said ‘hey man what the f***’ so I whacked him again. After the second one I was thinking ‘Oh my god what’s going to happen? This guy’s not going down. [What] if he can get past me?’ I was fearing for everybody’s lives to be honest so that’s when I went into … to protect my family’s life no matter what.”
Foley ran down the street after the man and – about four houses down – the two found themselves surrounded by police cars and armed officers yelling to get on the ground.
‘My family talked me into feeling like a hero’
The man fled, with police in chase, and Foley returned to his home to help his family and wait for what “felt like an eternity” for the ambulance to arrive.
Following the stabbing, Foley kept in touch with his neighbour. He and his son helped the woman move out of her house once she had physically recovered.
He said his family had done their best to talk through the events, but one of his children still struggled with anxiety and problems sleeping in the aftermath of the traumatic incident.
They had also moved out of their neighbourhood, looking for a fresh start.
Foley said he felt being awarded for his bravery was a huge honour but he was quick to point out the role that his son, daughter and partner had played in saving the woman’s life.
“They’re really happy for me but I couldn’t have done it without them.
“My family kind of talked me into feeling like a hero. I didn’t at first. But I’d do it again. In a heartbeat.”