Unfortunately they don't think it is legit:
This chain letter began masquerading as a legitimate news report in 2000 and contains popular elements of urban legendry: A female victim, male attackers and an unlikely hero. There are several signs it is not as it appears:
While it mimics the look and feel of a real news article, it lacks several key elements to make it believable and verifiable (e.g., a byline, date) and the writing is somewhat unconventional.
The message contains language that would be inconsistent with a news report from Australia. Instead, it is much more in line with an American author, indicating that it was either crafted in the U.S. and later adapted to Australia, or was written by an American to look like an Australian report.
Real law enforcement officials would not likely look so likely upon Ava Estelle's actions. Most take vigilantism very seriously and would hardly be "baffled" on how to treat her. She committed a crime and would be arrested and tried. Perhaps, the author set the tale in Australia due to a global perception of Australians being more laid-back and independent and thus, more likely to admire a "gun-toting granny."
Exhaustive searches of U.S. and Australian news sources fail to turn up any reliable account of the alleged events. Nor are there any accounts of the trial and prosecution of Evan Delp, Davis Furth or Ava Estelle in the Office of Public Prosecutions in Melbourne. In fact, many sources have even printed stories describing the story as a hoax.
Looks like we'll have to keep looking for a hero. Break this chain
http://www.breakthechain.org/exclusives/rambogranny.html
but if it was sure, I would be behind her all the waybut check out this link:
Look farther down the thread, below the Grandma story. It is just as good
THIS ONE isn't a fake. From Mike Royko, 1993:
We've had the year of the woman and it is still going on, with females being elected to high office and named to cabinet posts, and the power of Hillary Rodham Clinton.
But what about Curtescine Lloyd? You never heard of her? Well, she is my choice as one of the most amazing and heroic women of our times.
Ms. Lloyd is a middle-aged nurse who lives with an elderly aunt in the rural hamlet of Edwards, Miss., near Jackson.
This is her story, most of it taken from a court transcript.
One night, Ms. Lloyd was awakened by a sound. She thought it was h er aunt going to the bathroom.
Suddenly a man stepped into her bedroom. Terrified, she sat up. He shoved her back down and said: "You better not turn on a light. You holler, you're dead. You better not even breathe loud."
He declared his intentions. which were to rob her and commit sexual assault. Of course, he phrased it far more luridly.
Then he took off most of his clothing and jumped into her bed.
Here is what happened next. according to court records:
Ms. Lloyd: "I got it. I grabbed it by my right hand. And when I grabbed it, I gave it a yank. And when I yanked it, I twisted all at the same time."
(Need I explain what Ms. Lloyd meant by "it"? I think not.)
"He hit me with his right hand a hard blow to the head, and when he hit me, I grabbed hold of his scrotum with my left hand and twisted the opposite way. He started to yell and we fell to the floor and he hit me a couple of more licks, but they were light licks. He was weakening already."
With Ms. Lloyd still hanging on with both hands, squeezing and twisting, they somehow struggled into the hallway.
"He was trying to get out, and I'm hanging onto him, and he was throwing me from one side of the hall to the other. I was afraid if I let go, he was going to kill me.
"So I was determined I was not going to turn loose. So we were going down the hallway failing from one side to the other, and we got into the living room and we both fell. He brought me down right in front of the couch and he leaned back against the couch, with me.
"He says. 'You 've got me, you've got me, please, you've got me.' I said. 'I know damn well I got you.' He said: 'Please, please, you re killing me. you're killing me. I can't do nothing. Call the police, call the police.'
"I said. 'Do you think I'm stupid enough I'd turn you loose and call the police?' He said, 'Well, what am I gonna do" I said, 'You're gonna get the hell out of my house.' He said: 'How can I get out of your house if you won't let me go?' How can I get out?'
"I said: 'Break out. Son of a . You broke in didn't you? And I was still holding him.
"He said, 'Oh. you've got me suffering, lady, you've got me suffering.' I said, 'Have you thought about how you were going to have me suffering?' He said, 'Well, I can't do nothing now.' I said, 'Good.'"
Ms. Lloyd, still twisting and squeezing, dragged the lout to the front door, which had two locks, and told him to unbolt them.
It was a difficult process because he kept collapsing to the floor and she kept hauling him back to his feet.
"When he finally unlocked the door, he screamed, 'I'm out, I'm out.'" But Ms. Lloyd, now confident that she had a full grasp of the situation. said: "No. I'm taking you to the end of the porch. And when I turn you loose. I'm going to get my gun and I'm going to blow your (obscenity) brains out, you nasty, stinking, low-down dirty piece of (obscenity).
"And when I did that, I gave a twist, and I turned him loose. He fell off the steps, jumped up, and limped around the back of my aunt's car and started down the hill.
"And I ran into my aunt's room, got her pistol from the nightstand, ran back to the porch and I fired two shots down the hill the way I saw him go. Then I ran back in he house and dialed 911."
The police came and examined the man's clothing. Inside the trousers was written the name Dwight Coverson. They found Coverson, 29, at home, in considerable pain and wondering if he could ever be a daddy.
A one-day jury trial was held. As Coverson's court-appointed lawyer put it, "The jury was out 10 minutes."
And the judge gave him 25 years in prison.
The defense lawyer also said that Ms. Lloyd was recently on a local Mississippi TV news show and mentioned that she had been contacted about a possible movie of her story.
That is a film I would pay to see.
