04 January 2008

The best laid plans...

Of mice and meatheads...

"I've looked at life from both sides now... From WIN and LOSE and still somehow..."
-- LANGDON -- A home invasion took a deadly twist yesterday, leaving one of two bandits dead and a suspect in critical condition from serious stab wounds.

And murder charges could be pending against the 35-year-old man renting the acreage home, who, along with his girlfriend, was jarred awake at 3:30 a.m. when the two men burst into the bedroom after forcibly entering the residence through a side door.

Mounties said the man fought off the two assailants, leaving one of them, a 32-year-old man, dead in the bedroom -- an unusual turn of events for police at the scene.

"It doesn't happen very often where an attacker ends up dead," RCMP Cpl. Patty Neely said.
Of course... this is Canada...
While the resident's 24-year-old girlfriend was not hurt, the man suffered injuries while warding off his attackers and was in stable condition. He could also face homicide charges pending the outcome of an RCMP investigation.

Sgt. Patrick Webb said self-defence has not been ruled out.
(h/t wonder woman)

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RELATED: CTV fires up the spin machine

TURN, TURN, TURN...
Under the law, people have the right to protect themselves and their property within certain limits. The criminal code states that the victim of an unprovoked attack is justified in repelling force by force if it is "not intended to cause death or grievous bodily harm" and is no more than necessary for self defence.

Police say the victims knew the assailants. CTV Calgary reporter Kirk Heuser told CTV Newsnet that it's believed that the incident involved knives and no guns.
No guns, huh Kirk?

Two men armed with knives break into your home at 3:30 in the morning... crash the bedroom... and what... you're supposed to enquire if maybe they got lost and need directions?

Of course, they didn't have guns... so I guess that rules out self defence.
A time to gain, a time to lose
A time to rend, a time to sew
A time to love, a time to hate
A time for peace, I swear its not too late
For most of us anyway.

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FROM THE COMMENTS:
The RCMP is spinning this a bit.

They're only quoting the first subsection of Defence of Person (CC:32) when they say you must use no more force than is necessary.

In the second subsection, it says you can go right ahead and kill your attacker if you are "under reasonable apprehension of death or grievous bodily harm."
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LAST WORD: Scrubbing out the gene pool
-- CALGARY -- The intruder killed during a botched home invasion in Langdon was seeking revenge for a pregnant relative who had recently broken up with the target of the attack, says a man who lives in the house.