FRESNO, Calif. (KMPH) -
A Fresno woman is glad she decided to take karate lessons.
Over the weekend, she beat up and kicked a burglar out of her house.
20-year-old Janine Ramirez had just taken first place at a karate tournament.
When she and her mother returned home, they found someone had broken into their house and was inside the bathroom.
"I just started banging on the door, and he said 'I live here', and I said 'no you don't.' I kicked the door open," said Ramirez of the confrontation.
"They always teach us to kick through the person, not at the person, and that's what I did. Kicked right through him, and right through the shower doors," said Ramirez.
But she didn't stop there.
She threw him out of the bathroom.
"I kicked him again, and kicked him again, and kicked him again, until he was out of my house," said Ramirez.
She says the man didn't even fight back.
"I actually went easy on him, I didn't have to use anything else than a kick," said Ramirez.
She has been studying karate for about a year, and while her instructors are proud of her for defending herself, they do not encourage confrontations or violence.
"If you can walk away from the fight, if you can avoid the fight at all costs please do. But we want to know if it went down, you could handle yourself. She did very well," said Mike Guido, head instructor at Art of Shotokan Karate in Fresno.
Janine says her training gave her the confidence to do what she did.
Scared and beaten up, the man apologized to Ramirez's mother.
Fresno County deputies say the burglar is 18-year-old Wilberto Zapata, who lives in the same complex.
They say he was drunk, and apparently thought he'd broken into his own apartment.
He didn't take anything -just picked the wrong house to mess with.
He was cited for unlawful entry.
