Reformers seek 'licence to kill'
Homeowners should be allowed to tackle burglars, says legal watchdog
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HOMEOWNERS should be allowed to kill intruders in order to defend themselves, their family and their home without fear of being convicted, the Law Reform Commission has recommended.
The Government's legal watchdog, in a report released today, says it is vital that homeowners have clear legal guidance on the amount of force they are allowed to use.
The commission has recommended that lethal defensive force is permissible to repel threats of death or serious injury, rape or aggravated sexual assault and false imprisonment by force. But the so-called "licence to kill" laws would not extend to the defence of personal property.
The report, to be launched by Justice Minister Dermot Ahern, came as magician Keith Barry renewed calls for tougher burglary laws, including mandatory sentences for violent intruders who attacked the elderly.
Mr Barry's grandfather Paddy Barry fell unconscious shortly after raising the alarm after his Waterford home was burgled and died in hospital the following week.
"It's going to happen again and again unless we get law reform," said Keith Barry.
It also came days after an elderly couple was attacked in their Co Longford bungalow. The attack, described by gardai as "horrendous", involved the couple being threatened with a stun-gun device and with having their fingers cut off.
Under new laws proposed by the commission, a minimum threshold should be imposed on the use of lethal force in order to uphold the sanctity of life, including that of an attacker.
Homeowners would be entitled to use lethal force -- not just in their homes but also in the immediate areas surrounding their dwellings -- and they would not be obliged to retreat from an attacker even if they could do so safely.
The right to use lethal force would not be a carte blanche for homeowners and anyone seeking to rely on the new defence of legitimate defence would have to meet a series of requirements, including imminence.
The report, which includes a draft Criminal Law (Defences) Bill, marks the first step towards the enactment of so-called "make-my-day" laws that sanction force in self-defence and the defence of property on the basis of reasonable response to violence.
Vague
Last night, Professor Finbarr McAuley, a commissioner and co-author of the report, said that the law, as it stood, was vague and non-specific.
"The current law leaves everything caught up in a vague rubric of reasonableness. We need to codify the law and set out limits in terms that give substance to overarching legal concepts," he said.
"Shooting a man in the back as he flees in retreat can hardly be described as necessary. But on a vague reasonableness basis, who knows what a jury might think?"
Among 46 recommendations, which also cover the defences of duress and provocation, the commission said only gardai and prison officers should have powers to use lethal force for arrest, serious public disorder, riot or prison escapes, if and when it is necessary.
The watchdog said it wrestled with the problem of cumulative provocation, such as people who attack after a prolonged period of domestic violence or harassment, but said that the fact that there had been a time lag would not scupper someone's chances of claiming that they were provoked.
- Dearbhail McDonald Legal Editor
Irish Independent
