Four burglars enter, three burglars leave... Householder arrested for murder...

KyussBishop wrote: »

As has been said a lot:
If the person killed was attempting to attack an occupant (or there was that threat), and the occupant killed him in self defense, that's justified.
If the occupant went beyond self defence, and killed the person intentionally, knowing there was no threat to him, that's murder.

I really don't buy this,I think it's total bullshit. How are you going to distinguish between both of your situations you mentioned? As far as I am concerened if someone breaks into your house,invades a place where you are supposed to feel safe,that is the threat right there.

What are you supposed to do? Ask the thief when you encounter him "Hi there,do you plan on attacking me? These are my things and I would really rather you not steal them so if I try prevent that will you attack me or not?"

Someone comes into your house,you would be scared out of your mind and that right there is the threat because you have no idea what this person is thinking or whether this person is off his/her head on something. You do what you need to do to protect what's yours.

Carmelo Chilly Terrier wrote: »

Yup, its something I too am very black & white about.

Break into someone's home and get killed, don't expect me to go crying about it.

I'm very firm in my belief that you should have the right to take the life of a thief in your home.

It is nice to know that someone else shares my views on this.

I would have defecated on the dying corpse of the burglar. :pac:

dillo2k10 wrote: »

If someone broke into my home and they had a weapon then I would stab them, but I wouldn't be able to stop. I would be too afraid, I wouldn't stop stabbing until they stopped moving, but only if I felt I was in danger or someone else in the house was in danger.

I also believe that they deserve to be severely punished if they don't die. They broke into someone's home, the place where you are supposed to feel safe. They took that away and they would never be able to feel safe again in their home.

If you were to be brought to court could you not claim temporary insanity due to the shock and fear?

That's the problem with the idea of reasonable force: it's incredibly difficult to determine, particularly with the need to factor the burglary victim's mental state into the equation.
I also admit to being a little surprised at how resilient the human body can be, as some here have pointed out. I realise now that it's not so easy to determine when someone has tried to incapacitate the burglar, and when they've deliberately tried to kill them.
Ideally it'd be great to determine these things clearly, but I think the area of defending oneself against intruders is always going to be a murky one, and judges need to use common sense and all the evidence available to reach fair decisions.

It's interesting you say you would be too scared to stop stabbing. I can't say exactly how I'd react, I may react the same way, but I still think no matter my mental state, if I reached a point where it was clear that the burglar was incapacitated that I would stop myself. I think it would take a lot for me to try to kill someone, especially if they were trying to rob me and not kill me, but again I can't say how I'd react.

Anyway, there's something fishy about this case to me, it doesn't seem like a burglary, so I'm not going to pass judgement on it yet.

Why are people giving tips on what to do and what not to do in this situation?

"You should try and subdue them if possible"

Get a grip. If you had your young family in the house, next minute 4 masked men come through the door, you are not going to ask them to hold on while you think of your next move.. adrenaline and instinct would take over immediately, and you wouldnt know what happened til it was over.

No sympathy for the deceased in this case

4 masked men arent there for supper. F them

My parents in law were broken into twice in 3 weeks. Once during the day, nobody home, bold as brass they pulled up outside the house and strolled in as if visiting. They were disturbed by a knock from a neighbour and ran out the back, through the gardens and away. The next was at night time, and my brother in law coming in from the pub disturbed them. When he walked in one said "who the f**k is that" - they had been watching the house and obviously thought it was just two older people living there. We were blessed they ran because I have no doubt he would have ended up injured (or injuring) trying to protect his family.

Makikomi - on the subject of dogs, I've heard of two people with large dogs who were poisoned in their back garden prior to a break in. It was only after the house was robbed that they realised that the dog hadn't found something in their garden, rather was given something. If someone wants to rob your house they will know your dogs are there and they will have a plan to deal with them.

If we had a break in, (I'd firstly worry about my dog who would be downstairs,) I think I'd have a hard time stopping my husband going down. My instinct would be to lock my bedroom door and quietly call the guards I think. I would also call the house phone in the hope that if they think we will soon be awake they might leave. I would prefer for them to take everything in my house than to worry even for a minute that my husband could be murdered by a robber.

Take my things, but leave my husband and dogs alone. In saying that, if I was forced into a situation where it was kill or potentially be killed, or if I was protecting the life of someone else, if I could manage it (all 5ft of me) I'd have no remorse.