Some unlikely good news on the self-defence front this week out of NSW regarding a home invasion:

“A home intruder has died after an altercation with a resident at a house in Sydney’s south-west.

Around 7.30am on Sunday the 44-year-old father of the home on Westwood Court in Harrington Park awoke to the sound of his dog barking. Police say he went to investigate and challenged a male intruder in the loungeroom.

A physical struggle ensued and the intruder lost consciousness. The resident’s wife alerted neighbours and two members of the public commenced CPR on the unconscious man.

Paramedics soon arrived but were unable to revive him. The male resident was taken to Narellan Police Station but was released on Sunday evening without charge.

Detective Inspector Shane Woolbank said people are “entitled to their home” and can use reasonable force to protect themselves and their property.

He said police were unable to determine the identity of the intruder.”

No doubt the parents of said intruder will be making their pleas on national television within a few days, claiming how much of a saint the deceased is. This is a similar scenario to a gentleman who did the same thing in Frankston a couple of years ago, coming to the aid of a neighbour under attack.

Two interesting things to come out of this.

Firstly, common sense appears to have prevailed and the homeowner has been released without charge by NSW Police. Surely, no jury in the world would convict the man of defending his wife and children in his own home and putting him through two years and thousands of dollars of unnecessary stress.

Secondly, the tone from Police. This is a deviation from the usual “just call us and wait” script most cops will trot out. Never forget Assistant Commissioner Steve Fontana from Victoria Police telling people to just be compliant during a home invasion:

 

The right to self-defence is meaningless without access to the practical means. And it doesn’t help when you have dickheads from both sides of politics claiming people who suggest the Castle Doctrine are ‘racist.’ We saw exactly this from the Australian Senate last week, from Labor idiot Senator Anthony Chisholm towards Fraser Anning:

It’s really quite simple, your home is your castle. You don’t know what someone’s intentions are when they enter your premises at 2am and it’s naïve to assume the best-case scenario of them just taking your items and leaving.

Waiting for Police is also a mug’s game – you’re just putting yourself at the disadvantage of time and space for the arrival of force. That’s exactly the predicament Dean Webber found himself in when Queensland Police refused to assist him in a home invasion. Sure, call them but don’t expect them to be there in time because they won’t be.

Further, the age-old debate over what is reasonable and proportionate is indeed a balancing act – what is reasonable and proportionate is different for everyone. In all honesty, wouldn’t you want that fight to be as unfair as possible in your favour? The same force escalation principle that applies to Police should generally apply to homeowners.

The main problem as we have pointed out time and again in Australia is that the law basically prevents you from having any item, especially items designed for this scenario, for the purpose of self-defence. Firearm storage laws also make it nigh on impossible for legally owned firearms to be used for the same purpose. This already puts the public at a massive disadvantage, being forced to improvise against an assailant that has come prepared for an attack.

Put simply, the Castle Doctrine should be the default setting for when home invasions occur in Australia.

Kudos to NSW Police and let’s see if this trend continues. Perhaps NSW Police have learned their lesson after their handling of the David Dunstan incident two years ago.

Just make sure you don’t use a Zombie Knife.