The debate over how much force a person can use to defend their property, ongoing in SA, has also been revived in Britain where a judge said a farmer who shot a burglar acted reasonably. The Telegraph reports Judge Andrew Hamilton, sentencing the burglar to seven years in jail for a string of similar crimes, said it was ‘a pity’ that prosecutors had even thought of bringing charges of assault against the farmer, Kenneth Faulkner. The case has echoes of the conviction for murder of Tony Martin, a Norfolk farmer, after he shot dead a burglar at his farmhouse in 1999. The Court of Appeal ruled that Martin had used unreasonable force but reduced his conviction to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility after he had suffered numerous burglaries. Full report in The Telegraph
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In the second right-to-live case in as many months in the UK, the Family Division of a British High Court has again ruled in favour of doctors who had asked the court to allow them to withhold life-saving treatment for a terminally ill baby. The Independent quotes the judge as ruling Luke Winston-Jones, aged nine months, who has a rare genetic disorder, should not be placed on a ventilator if he stops breathing. His mother, Ruth, had refused to give her consent to withdrawal of treatment, claiming her son was a ‘fighter’ and accusing doctors of ‘playing God’ by deciding to let him die. Last month, another judge ruled that one-year-old Charlotte Wyatt, who was born premature and has severe mental and physical handicaps, should not be resuscitated if she stops breathing. Experts say more such cases may have to be decided by the courts because of advances in the treatment of sick babies.
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