AUSTRALIA – A homeowner in Australia has been charged with murder after he allegedly found a burglar in his daughter’s bedroom, then proceeded to beat the life out of him.
Police say that early Saturday morning, 33-year-old Benjamin Batterham found 34-year-old Ricky Slater had broken into the home he shares with his young family.
The confrontation turned physical and spilled out into the street as Batterham and a friend fought with Slater and detained him at the scene until police arrived.
Slater was found unconscious at the scene and was taken to the hospital in critical condition. His family says Slater suffered a broken neck. Batterham was also taken to the hospital suffering from facial injuries, and later charged with recklessly inflicting grievous bodily harm.
That charge was upgraded to a charge of murder after Slater’s life support was turned off on Sunday morning. Batterham turned himself in to police and is still in jail after being refused bail. Under New South Wales law, a person is not responsible for an offense if a “reasonable response” was used while acting in self-defense. Obviously, police do not believe Batterham acted within that guideline.
Slater had a past criminal history and had only been out of jail since December after successfully appealing his four year sentence on aggravated breaking and entering charges. Slater had been convicted of breaking into an adult store and stealing cash and synthetic drugs. He had served 20 months when a judge ruled there had been errors made during his trial and ordered him released from custody.
Slater’s family describes him as a gentle giant who leaves behind three daughters and was loved and respected. They added that Slater did not break into Batterham’s home, but had been invited to a party at the house.
“Richard was a good boy,” she said. “He might have done his time, everybody knows that. That had nothing to do with this case.”
A Change.org petition was created demanding that Batterham be released from jail with no charges. At this time, it has almost 5,000 signatures. The commenters on that petition allege that the laws Down Under seem to favor the criminal… can anyone chime in on that?
This article was written by Morbid for The Dreamin Demon - the Internet's self-appointed buzzkill.