A plucky, pint-sized, 81-year-old pensioner decked a thief as he tried to pinch his cash at a pharmacy.
OAP trucker Wilson de Mattos Braga – who is just 5ft 3 – spotted the crook stealing a wad of money from his back pocket.
The elderly man had just taken out the money from a cashpoint and had gone to the chemist to buy a skin cream.
The CCTV footage shows how he chats to the pharmacist as a bloke acting suspiciously closes in on him from behind.
The man puts his hand in the lorry driver’s pocket and takes out a wad of cash, which he immediately drops as he tries to leave.
By this point, pensioner Wilson has turned around and grabs the thief as he bends over to gather the banknotes.
With one hand on his front and another on his back, the spritely octogenarian hurls the thief to the ground and gives him a boot in the side in Goiânia, south-west of Brasília, Brazil.
He then leans over his body and begins beating him with his fist as others in the store help him retrieve his £420 (BRL 2,600) on Sunday (10 Dec).
Wilson later said he regretted his actions.
He said: “It was foolish. I could have been stabbed in the stomach.”
The OAP told local media: “I could have died.”
The thief was arrested as he tried to flee the scene with a pharmacist’s mobile phone.
Wilson went on: “I’m old, short, I’m 1.6 metres (5’ 3”) tall.
“The pharmacy staff helped me get my money back.
“He clenched the money in his hand and refused to let go.”
Izabella Ferreira, who works at the pharmacy, told local media how Wilson’s heroics continued after the footage ended.
She said: “No one gave the gentleman much credit.
“He later picked up the thief from the ground, threw him against a shelf, and beat him even more.”
Izabella went on: “Very unusual, but thank God, no employee was injured.
“And the elderly man was only slightly injured. Only the robber really got hurt.”
The pharmacist also told how Wilson checked back in on her and her workmates the next day.
She said: “He is a loyal customer of the pharmacy, everyone knows him.
“He came back on Monday asking if he had broken anything and that he would pay, but there was no damage.”
The suspect is under investigation charged with robbery with aggravating factors.
