Man kills bloke he catches molesting his 4 year old daughter

[stui magpie]

[luvdids]

Yeah, saw that. Sounded pretty fair enough to me.

[Jezza]

Good on him I reckon. I would have done the same thing had I been in that position.

[Skids]

He should have snapped a broom stick off in his hole as well, dog got what all dogs should get

[Tannin]

Two questions:

1: was this really what was going on? Is there actual evidence that the sexual assault took place (i.e., let's not overlook the possibility that the killer made up a story after the event - this stuff happens, so it doesn't pay to jump to any conclusions)

2: was the force used, given the circumstances reasonable

3: if not, and assuming that the answer to Q1 is a "yes", then how much slack should we be prepared to cut the killer? My impulse is to say "a fair bit" - i.e., given that we have a clear "yes" to (1), then we shouldn't be too worried about (2).

[luvdids]

The "force" used was getting punched in the head.
I would have thought that any parent catching someone doing that would want to punch them and let out their anger/disgust through their fists. It's not as if he pulled out a gun and shot him, or a knife and stabbed him, he got into a fist fight with him - wouldn't you? (supposing of course that the other facts are all correct)

[stui magpie]

[mandy]

I would do exactly the same thing. Unfortunately for me, I live in Australia, and would be sent to prison.

[3.14159]

I'm no Mathetician, but if it was my 4 year old daughter being sexually asaulted
killing her assailment would be letting hhe basterd off lightly.

[Black_White]

Manslaughter charge at the least.
While there is no excuse for the molester, the assailant should have held back after his initial attack. The word "repeatedly" is the issue here.
No doubt he was angry and justified in his anger, but we are not animals and have legal procedures to deal with these people.
As 3.141etc said, he got off lightly. But the manslaughterer should face some punishment for taking a life.

[Jezza]

Couldn't he say he was acting in self-defence?

However the question that is going to be posed is whether he used 'excessive force'.

[David]

Obviously shouldn't have a case to answer if he killed him in the act of protecting his daughter, but it'd be a far more difficult matter if it was found to be an immediate act of vengeance. There was a similar distinction at the centre of this case:

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/bashed-guard-cleared-of-murder/2006/08/04/1154198320209.html

Brown, as the article states, was eventually cleared, and her action seems to have been far more deliberate and premeditated, so I doubt that the American father would actually see jail time here.

Should he? Well, as much as the very mention of paedophilia seems to incite torture fantasies in the minds of at least 50% of the population, I don't believe that child molesters deserve to be killed. Although it's hard to reconcile that with the emotional intuition of what we would do (or want to do) in such a situation, I think it's important to acknowledge that principle in law and the conflict it creates.

If he did ever face court, a prosecutor might ask why, if he was strong enough to beat the man to death, could he not have physically restrained him until the police arrived? Or, if by pardoning him, might the court encourage other people in such situations to take the law into their own hands?

At the end of the day, we need the right as citizens to be able to protect ourselves and our loved ones from physical assault, and do whatever it takes to ensure that we are safe. As such, a purely defensive action should never be punished by law. It may seem near-trivial to distinguish that from a couple of extra punches for good measure, or a final kick in the head, but — given the massive implications such actions can have on the well-being of the other person — it's a distinction that the law needs to make.

[pietillidie]

If the story is true, you'd give him a lot of leeway, though as someone said above you've got the cases where people go further and sink that extra boot in, and this would also be an easy claim to manufacture after the fact.

But on pure face value an extreme reaction to such a scenario is surely instinctive, with the perpetrator having now damaged two lives and lost his own.

[stui magpie]

[Deja Vu]

He should be charged and trialled and judged by a jury of his peers. Not saying he should be convicted or jailed, but the process still needs to be followed IMO