'I killed burglar because he was coming at me with a machete' [But UK charges him with homicide]

Electronic Telegraph ^ | 30/08/2002 | Sue Clough, Courts Correspondent

[aculeus]

A man stabbed to death a burglar he found in his family's home because he believed he was going to be killed with a machete, an Old Bailey jury heard yesterday.

Barry Hastings, 25, discovered the man after deciding to visit his two children, aged two and four, and his wife, Nicola, from whom he was separated but on friendly terms.

Peter Kyte, QC, prosecuting, said Hastings told police that he noticed all the lights were off in the ground floor flat in Tottenham, north London.

"A bedroom light came on and he saw a black man, an intruder, prowling in two separate bedrooms," said Mr Kyte.

Hastings entered the flat through a door which he found had been broken open and claimed to have heard voices, including that of his two-year-old daughter. "Thus it was he entered the kitchen and grabbed a large bread knife," said Mr Kyte.

Hastings told police: "The next thing this guy has come running down the hall. He has gone, 'Right you bastard, this is it', and he has got a big thing in the air.

"It was all dark and the curtains were shut and I couldn't see. The light caught it and I thought it was a machete. He just attacked me and we started fighting.

"The next thing I knew we were outside. He said, 'Let me go'. I was frightened for my life. He ran at me. I was just trying to fight for my life, I was just hitting him and hitting him, probably as hard as I could. I don't know which part of his body I hit."

Roger Williams, 35, suffered 12 stab wounds to his head and back, including one which penetrated his heart. He staggered along the road, leaving a trail of blood until he collapsed. He died in an ambulance en route to hospital.

After the incident, Hastings went to his mother-in-law's home where he found his family. Mr Kyte added: "It was plain he was scared, almost hysterical. He was crying and explained someone was trying to break into the house. He said he thought he had killed him." Hastings, a trainee gas engineer, denies murder and claims he acted in self defence.

Mr Kyte told the jury that Mr Williams, from Tottenham, was "a man with many criminal convictions. His record shows him to have been a career burglar since, at the very least, 1983, and he had used violence in the past". He was also wanted by the police.

He was "bent on burgling" when he took a jemmy from a friend's house and decided to break into the flat.

However, Mr Kyte said: "The law recognises a man is entitled to defend himself, his family and his property, but only if his actions do not go beyond the reasonable and the necessary.

"There is no doubt that Mr Hastings had stumbled across a burglary. There is no doubt that Mr Williams was a thoroughly bad hat in the eyes of the law, but nonetheless he was just as entitled to the freedom to live as anyone else."

Although a householder had a right to defend himself, "we argue in this case, alas, this man overstepped the mark and went quite a distance beyond what in law he was entitled to do".

Mr Kyte claimed Hastings had initially said the stabbing took place inside the flat, but blood stains revealed it was outside. Although Hastings said Mr Williams had repeatedly brought down what he thought was a machete, he suffered only "trivial injuries".

The trial continues.

[TxBec]

Heard a similar case which happened in Mexico. Seems the homeowner shot the burglar..damaged his kidney and now SHE wound up in jail. I didn't hear all the details, but that was pretty much the gist of it.

[gcruse]

Clinton turned the US into France.
Gungrabbers would turn us into the UK.

[primeval patriot]

He was "bent on burgling" when he took a jemmy from a friend's house and decided to break into the flat.

jemmy: \Jem"my\, n. 1. A short crowbar. See Jimmy.

The punk wouldn't have had to endure 12 stab wounds from a bread knife in my flat. A 230 grain slug is safer for me and more merciful for the animal.

[riverrunner]

They sure are screwed up over there.

[LibWhacker]

I killed burglar because he was coming at me with a machete

Well, that's just too bad, Mr. Hastings. British law says you have to let the powdered wigs deal with your murderer. You don't have the right. Now, don't you wish you were an American?

[TLI]

He said he thought he had killed him." Hastings, a trainee gas engineer, denies murder and claims he acted in self defense.

Quick, somebody send that guy an immigration application with a note to tell INS he wants to move to TEXAS!   Come On Downnnnnn!

[Snuffington]

Violent crime in Britain has soared above the levels in America. Now they're jailing decent citizens for killing intruders and violent assailants. And they STILL consider America too violent to offer them advice.

No offense to the sensible Brits left standing, but at some point this has to be chalked up to mass dimwittedness.

[marktwain]

They sure are screwed up over there.

I don't know. Maybe the government officials just are more honest and identify with the burglar. For the most part, the government is just a better organized set of burglars with a better press organization. The government there probably thinks, "Look, if we let this guy think he actually has the right to defend himself and his property, he might someday decide to defend it against US! Can't have that.

[mhking]

A man stabbed to death a burglar he found in his family's home because he believed he was going to be killed with a machete

And the damn Brits want to look down their noses at us? If the moron had broken into a home here, he'd likely get shot and good riddance, too!

[VaBthang4]

Simply amazing.

England is gone.

[2sheep]

>Hastings, a trainee gas engineer, denies murder and claims he acted in self defence.

Self defense will be illegal in the New World Order.  Globalism means Submit.  It is so much easier for Globalists and Islamaniacs to kill you if you are unarmed.

[primeval patriot]

Barry Hastings

Good luck in court Mr. Hastings, and I mean that sincerely.

[dennisw]

Where's the machete?

[joesnuffy]

feed the peons to the criminals and maybe they will leave the elite alone...besides they are peons so what does it matter...its all so boorish and only proves peons cant be trusted anyway...Oh Elton have you seen Sir Paul ....I simply must have his tofu recipe for faux pork

[tjg]

I read a good article a while back, which detailed the criminalization of self defense in the U.K.

But just like our ridiculous tort system here, it's not the judges or the lawyers, it's the juries that you have to wonder about.

It will be interesting to see what this jury does.

[Age of Reason]

This NPR interview with Joyce Lee Malcolm, author of the new book, "Guns and Violence: The English Experience" should be required listening by all Americans.

Go to this page, and look for the link to the audio--Listening to it is an absolute must--look for the segment headed, "Joyce Lee Malcolm" and click on the tiny speaker icon below the description.

http://www.wnyc.org/shows/lopate/episodes/08152002

The facts presented on the history and results of England's gun control laws, are astonishing.

For most of Englands police history, the police did not carry guns in part because the citizenry did not want an armed police state.

In those rare cases where police were chasing an armed suspect, the police would borrow guns from citizen bystanders.

When the gun grabbers at the beginning of the twentieth century wanted to make a case for outlawing handguns, they researched statistics only to find that there were an average of one handgun murder a year in a population of thirty million.

the beginings of England's modern gun control began when it clamped down on handguns in the 1920's--not because of crime and not because of "the children"--but because England feared the possibility of an armed revolt!

These days, since England has instituted even more extreme gun control, violent crimes are skyrocketing.

And even if a criminal can't get his own gun, he can rent one from his local Rent-a-Gun thug, and return it when he's done with his crime.

Meanwhile, in the more rural areas of England the police stations are closed at night, and honest citizens are on their own--but can't have a gun.

The interview covers a recent case where a farmer in a remote area, shot two burglars (the sixth time the farmer had been burgled), and the farmer was sent to jail for life.

And the surviving burglar is suing the jailed farmer because since being shot, the burglar has been unable to work.

The burglar's legal expenses are being subsidized by the English government.

This professor's book and this audio interview deserve its own thread on FreeRepublic.

The professor also tells the liberal npr host that all/most serious scholars now believe there is no debate over the intent of America's second amendment.

[Ken H]

This man should be honored instead of being charged with a crime.

Shameful.

[sushiman]

Let's turn it around ... Hastings is the intruder in Williams' house ...Well ?

[primeval patriot]

Listening now, thanks for the audio link.