‘It was like fighting a dinosaur’: Sydney mother recounts punching great white shark to survive
Leah Stewart still remembers the moment she came face-to-face with what she describes as a “massive” great white shark off Coogee Beach — and the desperate decision to fight back with her bare hands.
The 34-year-old mother of one was swimming back to shore on a quiet June morning when she heard a scream behind her. She turned to see a huge fin cutting through the water. “I looked at the size of it and I realised that’s not a dolphin,” Stewart told Nine Network’s 60 Minutes in an interview aired Sunday.
Within seconds, she said, the shark was “right there” — close enough that its face filled her view. “Black little beady eyes… its teeth and its mouth was massive. We were looking face-to-face.”
Stewart recalled that the animal appeared so close that at one point it was just 30 centimetres from her own face. Her instinct, even then, was oddly calm: “I’m right-handed, so I thought ‘let’s do a left hook.’”
She threw her left arm forward, but the shark clamped down, tearing away skin, muscle and tissue from her forearm. It then dragged her under, seizing her leg. “I had the thought, ‘this is it, this is how I die’ — and then I just thought of [my daughter] August,” she said, fighting back tears. “She’s not going to have a mum. She’s gonna grow up without a mum. I just knew I couldn’t leave her.”
What followed, she said, was a desperate, instinctive struggle. “It was like punching a brick wall. It was the hardest thing in the world, but I fought my way out of there.” Stewart described the encounter as “like fighting a dinosaur” — and said she kept hitting the shark until it finally released her.
Other swimmers pulled her to shore, and she was rushed to hospital where she was placed in an induced coma. She underwent nearly a dozen surgeries, and doctors were forced to amputate her left arm because of the severity of her injuries.
Shark attacks are extremely rare in Australian waters, but the incident at Coogee Beach — one of Sydney’s most popular swimming spots — sent shockwaves through the local community. Marine experts say great whites can grow up to six metres and are responsible for most fatal shark bites in Australia, though unprovoked attacks remain uncommon.
Stewart, who has vowed not to let the ordeal define her, said she refuses to be remembered as “a girl that got mauled on the beach.” Instead, she insisted: “I’m the woman that punched the shark in the face.”
Her story has resonated widely, with many praising her courage and maternal resolve. Stewart said she is grateful for what she calls a “second chance at life” — and is focused on recovering for her daughter.