HOME INVASION SELF DEFENCE IN CANADA

[Music] thank you may have read in the news recently that a Milton Ontario man whose home was invaded by I think at least three people one with a gun was charged with secondary murder for shooting one of them in self-defense and his lawyer claims that the person was basically about to threaten their mother and is a bit shocking of course that he's charging secondary murder but it's not surprising to me because the police often in this situation will do this lay a charge and let the courts or the crown attorney sort it out later but this is a really vexing question you know you're in your home your your sound asleep you're 110 pound woman or a man it doesn't matter someone breaks in your home they're a large powerful man they have a knife or a gun what do you do well the police will tell you well your adrenaline's going you're scared you see this person what the heck do you do the police of course will tell you try and get out of the house if you can and that's obviously the best thing to do don't confront the person get you know prefer better to get your television stolen than you know get your life taken so but what do you do with this situation if you're you now fear for your life they're coming at you well in Canada you're allowed to protect yourself in self-defense under Section 34 of the criminal code if your fear if you have imminent fear that you're being attacked or about to be attacked or assaulted you can use reasonable Force to protect yourself and and you have to act reasonably I mean I'll use some examples but it's proportional Force okay so for example let me give you one clean queer example a person's coming at you with a gun and you happen to have a gun in your nightstand well you're about you you fear that they're about to shoot you they're threatening well that seems to me to be reasonable proportionate force in that situation obviously now let's say you're another example let's say you're a large man powerful bodybuilder you're trained fighter and some kid breaks in your house and then they're not that much of a threat to you and they have no weapon and you just go vicariously beat them up well you're not allowed to do that you're allowed to remove them from your house using reasonable force in that situation you might detain them for the police or whatever the kid's going to be scared in between those are a lot of gray areas and it's a very difficult situation in Canada new laws are brought in in about 2012 or 13 redefining our self-defense uh under Section 34 and protection of property under Section 35 supposedly simplifying the law but we haven't had I don't think enough guidance from the courts is yet to fully articulate a home invasion situation where the lines can be drawn in this situation and I can think of other gray area situations for example you know someone's coming at you with fists in a home where you would even entitled to use a knife on them you may be every situation is going to be different and has to be analyzed and as I said I find the police on many situations where there's a death involved you know they're going to analyze it they have to have reasonable problem grounds to lay a charge of course but oftentimes they're just going to lay the charge there you are you may be completely innocent you were mortified you're just sleeping in your home and now you're facing secondary Merc can't imagine how this Milton man especially if what his lawyer says is true that this Intruder was going after his older mother for my God now he started a secondary murder facing a lifetime sentence so I mean I went online and I know I know the advice will you try and Retreat try and get the heck out but ultimately if that person's coming at you you're allowed to use reasonable Force proportional force that may be in certain situations if you fear for your life that person's got a gun or a knife and maybe a gun it may be a knife it may be using your fists or grappling with the person in other situations I mean I mean if a person's just shaking you you don't take out your gun and shoot them obviously but it's a really troubling situation we don't have enough guidance in Canada on this point and it's very Sensational in the media there's no question and I I really I quite feel quite badly for this person because you can imagine being woken up in the middle of the night even if he made a mistake with the gun my God I mean these people broke into his home what's the answer to that well I'll tell you the answer in many states is you're allowed to do it I mean in the States you got the castle doctrine in in Texas my God don't don't try and break in in Texas because you'll get shot and the person might go scot-free uh obviously because they've got much more stringent lines where's the line here well I think a lot of people are going to say well you should be entitled to defend yourself in your home and protect your property and by the way this is for self-defense in your home you know defensive property just because a person's broke into your property and they're not attacking you you're not allowed to type punching and kicking and hitting and stabbing and shooting them I mean you'd be entitled to use reasonable Force to remove them from your property let's say you have a trespasser now if that person escalates it you can escalate your Force if they escalate it so that your fearful life you can escalate it if they escalate to the point of using a knife well you might be able to use a gun or a knife on them as well the other problem with these situations of course if you shoot someone in your house well how the heck did you have a loaded firearm you might be facing other charges because there's mandatory minimums for bloated firearms and how did you get that because bullets are supposed to be stored and Trigger locks and bullets aren't supposed to be in guns and and whatnot but I know a lot of people who sleep with uh you know law-abiding citizens who'll keep a baseball bat or a golf club in you know near them because they're they're fearful and we live unfortunately in a society that's going to face this problem and I think you're going to see more of these cases in the news going forward we've got a lot of drug addicts unfortunate Society a lot of home invasions I I can't imagine how someone could be so stupid as to break into someone's house at night my God don't do that in taxes because you'll get shot and that and you'll be shot dead very quick don't mess with taxes but anyway that in a nutshell is what's going on in Ontario it's a really gray area I've just touched on it very lightly it's very complicated and ultimately if this goes to trial on that second degree murder there's a lot of factors all the facts have to be looked at the role that people played whether the other person had a gun whether they were coming at them whether they're threatening with a gun were they threatening his mother and you know that that's what's going on there now conversely there was a case there was a knife thing in Nova Scotia at home invasion and that person wasn't charged obviously the police there thought they were acting in self-defense so I'm assuming the other Invasion person must have been threatened in your life either fists or with knife I mean there are situations I think I've seen it I want a case like this once where a person um was confronted with this and actually stabbed a person because they were much much bigger and they feared for their life I mean a 200 pound man who's a trained fighter on 130 pound who's not with Fisk and kill that person so would you be entitled to Nathan probably I don't recommend it and just Retreat from that man but these are vexing situations every fact's different and there's a whole laundry list under Section 34 of the criminal code which you have to consider in these cases and uh God helped that guy in Milton I I really hope that you know they're the right things done by him but by the crown attorney or ultimately in court and his lawyer seems to think this is a travesty of justice and it may very well be we I don't know I don't know the facts or that remains to be seen now we have I want to mention to you we have offices across the province we have a Toronto office we have Windsor London and Kitchener and feel free for example to call her our Kitchener or I should see our Toronto or Kitchener uh assault or domestic assault lawyers we have sexual assault lawyers we handle everything under the sun and we'll help you and look forward to your call if you need a free console thank you for watching our video we are absolutely committed to bringing you the best possible criminal and DUI educational videos if you found this video helpful please like it and subscribe to our YouTube channel if you've been charged with the criminal offense in Ontario and require our services please click on the link in the description below

Channel: Kruse Law

Views: 475,404

Keywords:

Id: -Xolys_2hl4

Length: 8min 37sec (517 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 13 2023