Man cleared over 'self-defence' shooting (Australia)

[DW98]

This is an absolute joke. I'm all for self-defence, but this was murder. You can shoot an unarmed person who's running away, including twice to the head when they're down, but if you shoot or use what's deemed unreasonable force on a home invader, you will lose your firearms and likely be charged.

I used to live pretty closed to where it happened, but moved out as the area is a sh!thole.

Killer's in clear

A MAN captured on CCTV footage shooting his de facto wife in the head has been found not guilty of her murder.Phillip Bracken, 45, wept quietly as a nine woman and three man jury accepted his claim of self-defence and acquitted him of the murder of partner Helen Curtis, 58.

Bracken shot her outside a house in Clive St, West Footscray street in November 2012.The court was told Curtis had regularly beaten and abused her partner of four years before the shooting.

Ms Curtis had been seen yelling at Mr Bracken’s father before Mr Bracken shot her twice in the head at close range.

“This is an extraordinary case, and an extraordinary situation,” said Ruth Shann, Bracken’s lawyer.The killing was captured on CCTV, and showed Bracken chasing Ms Curtis before shooting her at least five times, twice in the head Despite the CCTV footage Bracken pleaded not guilty, saying he killed her in self-defence after years of abuse.

Ms Shann pleaded with the jury and asked them to consider what would happened if their genders were reversed and she had killed him after an abusive relationship.“In general in situations of family violence we are biased towards the woman and again the man, and that is normal and probably right because as we heard… statistically overwhelmingly the majority of cases are a male perpetrator and a female victim,” Ms Shann said..

Ms Shann said Bracken was forced to shoot the woman he loved.“We have a right to defend ourselves against the threat of lethal force, and every single one of us has the right to defend someone that we love from the threat of lethal force,” Ms Shann said.

But Ms Curtis’s daughters were devastated by the verdict “Every one, fights everyone has relationships. Justice wasn’t served for our mum, he gets to walk free and we have to live with it for the rest of our lives,” said daughter Jaimi-Leigh Meilak.

At the time of the shooting the media said she'd been shot at least 10 times, not five; not sure what's the truth there.

Shann said Bracken was forced to shoot the woman he loved.“We have a right to defend ourselves against the threat of lethal force, and every single one of us has the right to defend someone that we love from the threat of lethal force,” Ms Shann said.

No, we don't. If we did homeowners would be able to own firearms for self-defence and not have to fear defending themselves.

I'd like to hear your guy's thoughts on this.

 

[Peggy Reist]

Is Australia as backwards as it sounds? I always thought it was a pretty enlightened country. That's ridiculous and your courts leave a lot to be desired too.

 

[DW98]

As a whole, no, but the legal system can be at times. Very few people are sentenced to life without parole here. You would have to do something truly heinous to be get sentenced for life. There was a shooting not too long ago in my city where the killer was given 18 months. It's a weak system overall.

Sometimes the system gets it right. For instance, a teenager was yesterday sentenced to at least 24 years in prison for shooting one person dead and shooting at two others in a drug-affected rage. It seems far more often than not that the system fails the victims, though.

 

[fuhr52]

Let me see if I have this right. A 45 year old man is threatened by a 58 year old woman that's running away from him. I see no mention of the threat having a weapon. This kind of smells but the court has spoken so all is well. :sarcastic:

 

[DW98]

Let me see if I have this right. A 45 year old man is threatened by a 58 year old woman that's running away from him. I see no mention of the threat having a weapon. This kind of smells but the court has spoken so all is well. :sarcastic:

Yep, she was unarmed. She did have the rifle (a .308 semi-auto was reported at one point) in her vehicle, but he went and retrieved it, then came back and shot her. :wacko: