to ask your thoughts on this? Fatal shooting during burglary

[itsjustataste]

Happened near me very recently and our community seems very torn with lots of people slinging insults at both sides. Lots of people shouting about playing stupid games, win stupid prizes etc... whilst others calling the shooter a murderer.

I find it very sad that someone so young has ultimately lost their life and has got mixed up in this sort of thing.

BUT that being said, I don't have any ill feeling toward the farmer either and cannot say that I wouldn't do the same if faced with 3 people breaking into my home, especially if I had my children in the house.

The other 2 suspects arrested for aggravated burglary meaning a weapon was involved and there had been a break in at the same home the night previously too.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-derbyshire-68942085.amp

People have said he’s a hero, deserves a medal, deserves a knighthood in the next honours, has done society a great favour etc. Sounds like praise to me.

Fortunately the law doesn't support your extreme views, would almost certainly be murder, even in countries with a heavy gun culture like the US or South Africa.

My sympathies are with anyone who has to defend themselves during a break in. Being broken into is a horrendous experience and you can never predict what an intruder is going to do.

Unfortunately in the UK keeping anything to hand deliberately for the purpose of using it as a weapon should you need it for self defence, counts as premeditation or intent.

We need a change in the law. I don’t think people should be allowed to shoot/ attack someone if they’re running away. But short of that we should be allowed to do whatever necessary to keep ourselves and our families safe in the event of a break in.

@GPTec1 "I ve no sympathy for the robbers at all but i also think that praising a man who has killed and seriously injured two people without knowing the full facts is stupid and ignorant."

I agree. It was the same for that other incident a few years ago where a man lay in wait for a burglar and shot him in the back as he ran away.

Self defence must be proportionate. We have no idea whether it was an n this case.

I didn’t say it was legal. I said he was justified.

We have apparently forgotten Reeva Steenkamp.

Indeed.

Totally disagree, someone running away is no longer a threat, at this point a reasonable person would call the Police.

You would feel rather differently if you had a wayward son who was killed in such away.

Once firearms are mentioned, they'd be around in shot, so to speak.

Ah but she was thought to be a burglar, armed too, so a legitimate target to be killed.... according to many on here.

Ah so now it might be a case of domestic violence? With burglary used as a cover story?

wtf?

Reeva Has nothing to do with this case.

It’s nowhere near similar. Bringing her up is so distasteful, it’s unbelievable.

No, she was shot through a locked door. Her killer could have left the room/called for help.

But that is different - any murderer can try to claim it was self defence, they want to get away with it after all- it is not the same as someone choosing to burgle and house.

The defence was that she was thought to be an intruder. It’s highly relevant.

...and i was making the point to the pp who said he was justified if he shot the burglar as he ran away.

There have been posters on here saying that they are glad the man is dead as thats "one less burglar"

And what’s that got to do with anything?

Were you not the one talking about facts? The others have been charged with burglary. So it’s easy to suggest, they weren’t trespassing.

Even the people trying to point out he was ‘only a boy from a nice family’ aren’t suggesting they were not breaking in.

Where have you got, factually, this man was in a locked room and the farmer could have easily contained and called for help?

It’s not relevant. And when people need to bring up the death of a domestic violence victim in a completely different circumstance, you know you don’t have a point.

OP had no reason to think there was a burglar. No reason to think it was at risk. It was a cover story.

Comparing RS to this situation is beyond disgusting.

@Itsonlymashadow
Pistorius said he thought his home was being invaded and he acted in self defence.

For many posters on here that gave him absolute free rein to use whatever force he felt appropriate.

This whole discussion is not as straightforward as some would like to think.

The comparison to Reeva Steenkamp is really distasteful. The criminals were not invited guests in the farmer's home, shot mistakenly or with malicious intent. They were correctly identified as home invaders.

He just thought there was an intruder despite not being home alone.

This farmer saw there actually was an intruder or rather three! That where armed in some such way, after only having someone else or possibly the same people attempt it the day prior.

Slightly different really.

If I can account for all my house holders and there’s someone in my kitchen that isn’t them it’s an intruder… if I don’t check first or don’t visibly see someone who doesn’t belong here then that’s a huge gamble.

The victim is the farmer

@LordPercyPercy "They were correctly identified as home invaders."

And Steencamp was incorrectly identified as a home invader. The problem is you don't know until it's too late.

The victim is the person who’s dead. Death pretty much trumps everything else in the victimhood stakes.

Are you seriously suggesting that’s fact?

That he forgot his girlfriend was in the house. A girlfriend who there was really strong evidence he was abusing?

Do you usually believe abusers when they kill their partners and say it was an accident?

It would be similar if this farmer had killed a member of his own household. But he didn’t.

It’s vile. You know it’s not even similar. And you did it to try and prove a point. Which you also failed at.

That is yet to be proved.

Unlike you, i don't know the full circumstances of the shootings.