that the Man who killed a burglar he saw breaking into his house should not be jailed for 19 years

[LargeDeviation]

He saw the man breaking into his house on a video doorbell, armed himself with a knife and went with his half-brother and killed the burglar. He has been jailed for 19 years.

Yes the violence he used was very extreme, but the burglar was breaking into his home! It is unreasonable to expect a dispassionate response. People should be able to defend their home and their family from intruders, including using force which would be considered unlawful or unreasonable in other settings.

Even if he must be found guilty by law, the sentence should take the circumstances into account and it should be a slap on the wrist.

I get you, most people aren't prepared, however no moral choice if my safety was jeopardised.

But to be fair, I don't think anyone here is saying they'd go and take a hit out on a burglar for nicking their laptop😂

No. He actually went home and stabbed him. Not OK.

If someone broke in when I was at home I would go for them, albeit with a hockey stick. I wouldn't stab them.

Why would assume a criminal a better fighter .

Than a random poster on MN? I'm willing to bet quite serious money.

I've worked with offenders up to an including several murderers, a few of whom had killed more than one person. I think I know a few more criminals than most on here.

🤣

He fucked about and found out🤷‍♀️
19 years is way too harsh when nonces don't even get half that.

Exactly this.

I'm not that bothered what happened to either of them, then.

Bet you're relieved he didn't find your stash, OP.

You break into my house, you leave your human rights at the door.

Oh you're hard. [eyeroll]
the sentence should be much longer and i hope there is an appeal for it being too lenient

Something I've found quite a useful exercise, is envisioning that the intruder was in someone else's house, and it was your kid.

Should we do that with all crimes

All crimes which may motivate you to commit pre-meditated murder.

I'm talking about personal hypothetical responses, rather than judge and jury. It's important to realise that sometimes (I know, I know!), people you love and care about can do really shit things that if it weren't your loved one, you'd be baying for blood.

It can create perspective and balance.

It's all gone a bit Sweeney round here, hasn't it?

Hahaha!! Good one!

Or:

Lock them in the cellar as a sex slave!! Forever!!

They leave their human rights at the door lol

That's why family members aren't the judge or on the jury. Because you can't make rational or reasonable decisions if your child is involved.

YABU

You'd expect the opposite of a disproportionate response

The law is very clear on this

I think it’s right.

it was premeditated. It would be very different if they were at home and it was used as self defence.

@Sagealicious you are quite right and I genuinely and profusely apologise.

I used the older “popular” meaning without thinking. I should have known better, and I will be more careful with my words in future.

That's why family members aren't the judge or on the jury. Because you can't make rational or reasonable decisions if your child is involved.

Absolutely. But when arguing that a disproportionate response of violence, resulting in death, should be deemed perfectly acceptable, hypothetically speaking, I would argue, that a person should be able to envisage that the person that was killed was their loved one. Hypothetically speaking. Not 'them or theirs'. But 'ours, and mine'.

In some American states there is a law of "Stand your ground", which, in its more extreme forms seems to say that there is no legal requirement to withdraw yourself from a situation like burglary.

This person seems to fail, even on that. He didn't withdraw, he actually went there with a deadly weapon.

19 years seems a little on the short side to me.

Thank you that means a lot. I also apologise if I came across sounding defensive.

If you broke into our house and went near our DS, I would try my upmost to ensure you never got out alive.

If you wanted any of my things, take them, it's stuff I'm not concerned, but I can't differentiate between that, so I will treat you as a threat to our DS if you break in.

Would I plan to go and kill someone, absolutely not. This man deserves to go to jail, he is a murderer.

In this case I think it was unnecessary. The home owner was not present, not at risk and planned the attack, arming himself before going to the scene.

However I can honestly say if someone broke into our home whilst my young children were present they would be getting stopped by any means possible.

Cricket bat is a permenant fixture under the bed. DH does actually play that and golf so perfectly acceptable to have them in the house.

My DF has a cricket bat, however to be fair he is a gun owner (due to his hobby) so a 999 call results in the firearms team arriving. We actually found this out by chance when a call was made from a concerned neighbour in the street about my DP next door neighbour and they gave wrong house number to the call handler.