How self-defence can act as an excuse in a murder case
What you need to know:
- The law states that a person is entitled to use reasonable force against an assault if they are in apprehension of serious injury provided they do all they are able to do in the circumstances, by retreat or otherwise to break off the fight or avoid the assault.
- A police officer described the scene as littered with glass and indicative of violence.
Self-defence can be a complete defence in a murder case although this does not negate the onus on the prosecution to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt. But the evidential burden to prove self defence lies on the accused person. In other words, an accused person must convince court that he or she acted in self-defence.
It is not sufficient for an accused person to simply allege that he or she acted in self-defence; he or she must support such an allegation with some semblance of evidence. And this was the burden that one woman had to discharge when she admitted to killing a General in her house but denied the charge of murder.
The law states that a person is entitled to use reasonable force against an assault if he or she is in apprehension of serious injury, provided he or she does all that one is able to do in the circumstances, by retreat or otherwise to break off the fight or avoid the assault. The law further states that such a person may use such force, including reasonable force, as is in the circumstances.
Spark of conflict
There were two incidences of violence the time the General died. The General and the woman in question had spent the evening out. Upon return to the woman’s home, a one-sided quarrel ensured, with the General berating the woman whereupon the woman broke down crying. The General called the woman a thief and also accused her of bringing other men to her house. The woman repeatedly asked the General to leave as she wished to rest. The General left the woman’s house. The General, however, returned shortly after 6am on November 10, to the woman’s house and knocked at the window. A school girl living with the woman opened the door. The General was livid as he entered the house. He sat in one of the chairs in the sitting room and interrogated the school girl.
The school girl’s aunt joined them shortly but the General continued quarrelling and accusing the woman of stealing his money. The General then threatened her after breaking a glass on the table and throw a whisky bottle at her which missed her and hit the chair. The woman asked the General to leave but the General pounced on the woman and boxed and slapped her as she pleaded with him to leave her. The General threw her on the sofa and attempted to strangle her. The General asked for his portrait. In anger the woman picked the portrait from the wall and smashed it on the floor.
The threats
The General then picked the woman’s handbag and phone and told her to leave the house as he made for the door. The woman instead went to the bathroom and came out with an iron bar and hit the General, who was at the door facing the main exit, on the head. When the General fell on the ground, the woman hit him again, on the head. A doctor who examined the woman shortly after the death of the General documented several scratch marks on the woman’s neck. A police officer described the scene as littered with glass and indicative of violence.
The defence, however, submitted to court that the General had told the woman that he was going to fetch his gun and kill her. Indeed a loaded revolver was recovered from the General’s car that was parked a few metres outside the house. The car was parked at the only exit out of the perimeter wall.
The woman further told court that the General had earlier held her at gunpoint and threatened to kill her, only calming down when, on her knees, she pleaded with him. To court, when the General stood up to leave saying he was going to get his gun, the woman had no reason to doubt him. The presiding judge, therefore, agreed with the submission that the woman had reasonable grounds to believe her life was in real danger, and defended herself in the best way she could.
To be continued