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INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPERS<\/p>\n
The arrest of Manor Gardens resident Dennis Webster, who killed an intruder in his kitchen at the weekend, has outraged many people.<\/p>\n
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Related Stories<\/p>\n
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Durban – <\/p>\n
Police will arrest homeowners who kill intruders when protecting their homes and families \u2013 even if the incident is clearly self-defence. <\/p>\n
A Durban criminal lawyer warned homeowners on Tuesday, particularly in the light of the escalating violent crime, that if they killed in self-defence, they could be arrested and charged with murder. <\/p>\n
The advocate, who specialises in criminal cases and therefore cannot be named, said the police had \u201cfar-reaching\u201d powers of arrest, according to the Criminal Justice Act, and a situation could \u201cdepend on the mood\u201d of the arresting officer. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
But the police were \u201cnot morons\u201d and had been trained, and could see something at the crime scene to make them suspicious. \u201cThat\u2019s why they have the power to make that decision there and then,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
The advocate said killing another person was a schedule one offence and the guilt of the perpetrator had to eventually be decided by a court. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The arrest of Manor Gardens resident Dennis Webster, who killed an intruder in his kitchen at the weekend, outraged many people. <\/p>\n
What made the situation worse was that the men accused of beating to death a rugby fan at a Sharks match 10 days ago still have not been arrested, despite being known to police. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou can be quite sure these guys are lawyered-up and that there is a lot of negotiating going on behind the scenes. The cops want to make sure they get a conviction. It\u2019s going to be hard to prove as most of the witnesses, I would think, were drinking, and of course, the suspects can argue it was dark,\u201d the expert said. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
David le Roux, an international expert on fight and flight behaviour who is often called to court for his professional opinion, said that no court would find Webster guilty of murder if he was defending himself against an intruder. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhy he got arrested, I don\u2019t know \u2013 it\u2019s absolutely unacceptable,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Durban private investigator Peter Kitshoff, who was arrested several years ago for shooting a man in similar circumstances, accused the police of overreacting in incidents of self-defence. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhy must the person be detained? The cops can\u2019t guarantee that person\u2019s safety in the cells. Things can happen there that can put a death sentence on you for the rest of your life \u2013 and all you were trying to do was protect your home and family. It\u2019s life-changing,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, Webster said his night in jail and the \u201cwhole experience\u201d had left him traumatised and shocked. <\/p>\n
\u201cI just don\u2019t want to talk about it any more. I just want to keep to myself. This whole thing is crazy. I was just protecting myself,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Police spokesman Vincent Mdunge defended Webster\u2019s arrest and the \u201cdeal\u201d with the alleged rugby attackers. <\/p>\n
\u201cEach case has to be judged on merit. A human being has died and these people have to convince a court of their story. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou must remember that an arrest is not to punish someone, but to secure their attendance in a court. There are many ways we are legally allowed to secure an arrest and, in both these incidents, we have acted within the law,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
The Mercury<\/strong> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPERS The arrest of Manor Gardens resident Dennis Webster, who killed an intruder in his kitchen at the weekend, has outraged many people. Related Stories Man who killed intruder granted bail Man held after killing intruder Durban – Police will arrest homeowners who kill intruders when protecting their homes and families \u2013 even if […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[8275,953,2143],"class_list":{"0":"post-19061","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-durban","8":"tag-newspaper","9":"tag-the-mercury","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19061","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19061"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19061\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}