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A good Samaritan helped a shopkeeper get the better of a thief - by whacking him over the head with one of his child mannequins.

She picked up the headless dummy from the pavement outside the clothes store as the pair grappled for control of a gun the retailer had threatened his assailant with.

Video footage showed the moment the thief got the upper hand during the violent struggle - before being knocked senseless with the unorthodox weapon.

The shopkeeper finished off the job by pistol-whipping him as he lay dazed on the floor beside him.

And a police officer called to the scene was filmed giving him two kicks to the privates for good measure before he was taken away.

The amazing scenes were filmed on a street camera in Parana, southern Brazil. They showed the moment a terrified shop assistant who had fled the store to seek help moved the mannequin from the doorway after it fell during the fight - and the quick-thinking heroine grabbing it to use as a makeshift weapon.

The unnamed thief was taken to hospital with a bullet would to his leg sustained as he grappled with the shopkeeper.

Police said the retailer had a gun licence and permission to use the weapon for self-defence. A police source said: “If it hadn’t been for the Good Samaritan’s quick-thinking when she saw the mannequin we could have been looking at a very different and possibly tragic outcome.

“It fell to the floor during the struggle between the two men.

“We never thought for one minute when we heard a firearm was involved that a dummy would end up delivering the killer blow.”