Woman used Brazilian ju-jitsu to fight off man who allegedly punched her in Dublin

Résumé détaillé

Janaína Mota (33) says she was attacked on Wexford Street early on Sunday in latest incident against delivery workers ...

A Brazilian woman who used jiu-jitsu to fight off a man she claimed punched her in Dublin city centre on Sunday says she has been asked to teach martial arts by several gyms since the alleged incident.

Janaína Mota, who works as a delivery rider for apps such as Uber Eats and Deliveroo, was cycling along Wexford Street at about 3am on Sunday when the alleged assault occurred.

As she was nearing the end of her work on Sunday, the 33-year-old, who moved to Dublin from Brazil about two months ago, claimed she encountered a “drunk” man who was standing in the cycle lane.

After she sounded her horn at him, Mota claimed he became “very aggressive”, swore at her and called her a “b*tch”.

She claimed he then approached her and punched her in the face, alleging it was a “very strong” punch.

“He saw that I was a girl. I wasn’t using anything to cover my head,” she said, adding this was “extra shocking”.

An Garda Síochána said in response to queries about the incident: “Gardaí responded to reports of an assault at Wexford Street, Dublin 8 in the early hours of Sunday, 8th November 2026.

Food delivery workers working for takeaway companies such as Deliveroo have spoken out publicly and protested in recent years at the number of violent attacks they have suffered.

Mota has a brown belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, the second-highest rank in the martial art.

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