The " Home Defence " Equation !

 Many people have been following the trial of a young man charged with manslaughter as it proceeds through a Sydney court.  It raises the question that worries most householders.  Precisely what are their rights when it comes to mounting a defence against an intruder who breaks into their home  ?

This young man and his girlfriend were at home when a drug affected man armed with what turned out to be an imitation pistol and with a knuckle duster burst through the door and threatened them.  In the fight that followed, the male householder was knocked unconscious.

His girlfriend fought the man off and managed to chase him out into the street, where the fight continued. When the householder recovered he grabbed a Samurai sword and joined the fight in the street, striking the intruder a fatal blow on the head with the sword.

The police investigation that followed resulted in the Public Prosecutor charging the householder with manslaughter, despite his plea that his girlfriend was calling for help and his action was in her defence. He was unaware that the pistol was a fake and had a genuine concern for their lives.

The court heard evidence that the slain man was high on Ice at the time of the home invasion, and in todays world that is not an unusual situation.  Many people reading about this trial are picturing themselves in a similar situation, and wondering how their reaction would affect both their lives and their liberty.

Unfortunately, there is no clear answer to that question.  All individual cases are considered on their merits and usually the outcome depends on how the jury interprets the evidence given.  In this case, the unusual factor was the presence of a Samurai sword.  This was a fearsome weapon carried by Japanese officers during the second  world war and could create horror in civilian minds.

Defence seems to be a matter of balancing the risk with the degree of force used to contain the threat.  It could be argued that use of the sword was reasonable against a gun when the fight was within the house, but the intruder had been driven into the street, where the sword was an over reaction.

There is also a very different interpretation of legal force between civilians and police officers.  When police encounter a person armed with a weapon, who refuses to drop that weapon, they are rarely charged if they fatally fire their own firearm.

Fortunately, burglars discovered by a householder breaking into a house usually swiftly depart  without the threat of violence.  The danger comes from drug affected people in the grip of hallucinations they would totally disregard when sober.  The outcome may be settled in a courtroom against  the degree of force used by the householder in relation to the risk posed.

In the heat of battle, that is a very hard component to successfully judge.