Researching Self defence has become a bit of a mission for me lately, especially as the launch date of our eBook looms. As I trawled through the 100's of self defence stories all over the internet, one seemed to stand out for me.
A women in Scotland was found guilty by a jury of her peers, of brandishing a broken bottle after her partner and herself were attacked on a night-out. The charges were as follows:
1) Breach of the Peace (not proven)
2) Assault - Punching assailant in the head (guilty under provocation)
3) Assault - Attempting to strike assailant with a broken bottle (not proven)
4) Carrying an offensive weapon in the form of a broken bottle (guilty)
On the face of things, it seems clear that you can not run around town brandishing a broken bottle and so justice was served? However, would it shock you to find out she appealed and got her conviction over turned?
She relied on self defence to explain why she used the bottle and the jury were told by the judge not to accept this because "fear of an attack was not a reasonable excuse for having an offensive weapon."
Here lies the problem, she was protecting her partner from further attack. Her right to do this is protected by Common Law, which states you have the right to:
1) prevent or terminate a crime
2) prevent a breach of the peace
3) protect yourself or someone else from harm
4) protect your property
On appeal the whole case was dismissed as a miscarriage of justice, the judge had no right to direct the jury to not accept her defence.
SO BE CLEAR about your right to use self defence. We have taken the headache out of this for you in our ebook, Fighting Back which will be published soon.