Asalaam Alaikum/Hi All!
It has been on the news today how a burglar has been stabbed to death. My honest initial reaction was ‘Well serve him right for trying to rob someone’.
Harsh?
It got me thinking about what I would do if I realised someone was trying to break in and my husband wasn’t home.
Would I immediately call 911 and then wait until they arrived before I did anything else?
Or would I get something to bash them silly with?
Probably the latter. I have a daughter in the house to think of.
If you think you are in danger your automatic instinct is to protect yourself. You are not exactly going to say to a gang of burglars in balaclavas ‘Could you please hang on a minute while I call the police? Then you can rob the place till they turn up but please don’t hurt me in the meantime!’
We should have a right to protect our homes without fear of being prosecuted for it. What is the betting that this criminals family will probably sue the original victims for compensation?
In my opinion sentences for criminals should be harsher. I am glad that there has been a U-turn in a proposed reduction of 50% of the sentence for a criminal who pleads guilty. That was just ridiculous.
In the Sky news article the police are quoted to say:
“If somebody was confronted by a burglar tonight, I would tell them to ring the police and use reasonable force to protect themselves.”
I will be interested to see where this case leads to. Especially since David Cameron has said “We will put beyond doubt that homeowners and small shopkeepers who use reasonable force to defend themselves or their properties will not be prosecuted.”
Currently the law is that you can only act if you fear for your life.
How exactly do they define what is ‘reasonable force?
If a group of men in balaclavas turn up at midnight to rob you is it reasonable to use a knife to stab them? Is it reasonable to assume that your life is in danger and hurt them before they hurt you?
You can read the full story here.
Salaam alaykum,
Good question. I think I would at least get something to protect me and the little one. But Insha'Allah we all don't have to face a situation like this.
wa alaikum aslaam
InshAllah not. My husband used to work nights and I was always alone. I never slept peacefully during those times