Thread: Being secure at HOME assault

Ed, the laws are such in Australia that if a house-breaker comes to harm during his illegal entry to your property he can sue you (through insurance) for compensaion.

soth

Originally Posted by bsrlee

1: Screen Door - get a 'good' one with multiple locking points - they usually have 3 moving tongues on the opening side & 3 fixed on the hinge side that lock into the frame top, middle & bottom - this stops them jemmying out the top or bottom corner. You should also get a metal door frame/surround installed that bolts/screws to the building frame/brickwork. A 'good' security or locksmith should be able to supply & fit these.

2: Maglite or similar. You may find a 'C' cell torch easier to hang onto than a 'D' cell torch, unless you have enormous hands. No good giving the tosser something to clout you with or having it fly off into the dark. When you get it, carefully wrap the batteries into a long cylinder with paper & stickytape so that the assembly will -just- slide into the torch.

Firstly, it makes the torch quieter when carried, and secondly if you clout 'something' the torch won't bend in the middle into a banana shape - yes they do that when you clout someone hard, as several security guards in Sydney have found out over the years. In one case you could count every battery cell by the dents in the case, but the target just ran off without apparent ill effect after being hit over the head. And if fronting the local magistrate after creaming someone you can always point out the pristine condition of the torch - 'I just fended him off, I didn't hit him hard sir' - just ask the cops to produce some damaged torches & aluminium batons as 'exhibits'.

Don't take a head shot; knees, elbows, wrist and lower arm, shins are the preferred areas, hurt heaps & you can generally walk faster than they can hobble after a knee shot.

I have a wrist strap on mine so if I loose my grip on it it'll only go no mone than 4 inches from me

Sorry to hear of your troubles WazOz.

brings back memories of friends who had moved into a new house that had yet to have the back fence erected. Broken into once by a junkie who came back several nights later when the lady was at home with just the two children, one a toddler, one a baby.
Threatened her through the close doors with violence and obsenities. Police were called.
"Is he in side the house madam?"
"No. But he is threatening us with a shovel"
"Soory madam but we can do nothing until he actually enters the house."

Originally Posted by artme

Sorry to hear of your troubles WazOz.

brings back memories of friends who had moved into a new house that had yet to have the back fence erected. Broken into once by a junkie who came back several nights later when the lady was at home with just the two children, one a toddler, one a baby.
Threatened her through the close doors with violence and obsenities. Police were called.
"Is he in side the house madam?"
"No. But he is threatening us with a shovel"
"Soory madam but we can do nothing until he actually enters the house."

The response to this is "If you're not here in 2 minutes and he is, I will shoot him." See how quick they get there then.

Shepards are good but they're not the biggest dog, my German Shepard Malamute X had his guard dog role taken over by a Bull Mastiff X pup cause he was hopeless. (training issue) Now the pup is one y.o. and bigger than the top dog.

Great advice ppl, got the Torch, nice and heavy, trying to work out how to put barbed wire or broken glass on the end.
Sticking the batteries together is a good one thanks. Know all the spots to strike with minimal damage and heaps of pain, won't be so kind if it happens again, thought I had it under control, he had settled down then attacked like a coward when I was hands down and wife was telling him to clear off, thought it was over, won't happen again. Lucky to be alive or not in hospital same for the missus.
In Oz it's against the law to even point and unloaded weapon at an intruder, even for a woman alone with girls in the house, has happened and she got charged.
Hmm live near the coast, been a lot of Sharks around here lately, next time, will take the guy/s for a small trip to the Dawesville Cut, been a few sightings of Great Whites. Sad how the Laws protect the crims, they can steal your car smash your property, and only get a minor infraction, if the cops even catch them. Won't be long and vigilatism will take back the safety of our homes and suburbs, enough is enough, Law won't help then the Lord will help those that help themselves. Would sooner have an assault charge than face the chance of my wife or son (29) getting hurt, let alone my Jack Russel. Will be strengthening the door surrounds (double doors) with metal, more good advice, Smith and Wesson don't live here unfortunately, you guys in the States, fight like hell to retain the right to bear arms.
Thanks one and all for support and ideas, all has helped. Waz

Originally Posted by masoth

Ed, the laws are such in Australia that if a house-breaker comes to harm during his illegal entry to your property he can sue you (through insurance) for compensaion.

soth

That's sad that you could get jacked up for defending your own home!

This nut job was skulking around our home in Kentucky off and on for a couple of weeks. Got in touch with a sherriff deputy down at Mt Vernon ( the county seat) and told him what was goin' on. Abe told me that if I do by chance shoot him, to be sure to drag his ass inside before calling the sherriff department.....that way there would be no repercussions! Yep, I loved living in Rockcastle County, Kentucky.

cool ed , Waz he's a flamin coward, get a security camera as well, if he comes back with other cowards, you'll have proof (cause he wont be able to get in, he may try and hurt your car/house etc)

Know someone who set up their place like Fort Knox - cameras, alarms the lot.
They were visited by the cops who thought anyone with that much security must be dealing in drugs.

i could be wrong but I think anyone comitting a crime can't sue cause something happened to them while committing it.

Originally Posted by masoth

Ed, the laws are such in Australia that if a house-breaker comes to harm during his illegal entry to your property he can sue you (through insurance) for compensaion.

soth

Thats not quite correct. They can only sue you if you have done something that would endanger a normal person. Say a great hole in the backyard, razors on the fence, electric wires or something. I think it then becomes a case of negligence, the fact they were there illegally is second to the danger.

I think there was a case once where they tripped on something (garden hose?) and sued but it may be an urban myth. If they are injured on your front yard then you may be open to sueing as there is tacit consent to enter the front yard, unless of course its fenced and you have a sign up.

Should have just kicked his ass and then dumped him down the road... then call the cops.

1: A 'shoulder shot' with something hard can kill in a couple of ways - firstly it can break the collar bone & the ends of the break can cut the sub-clavian artery - almost impossible to stop the internal bleeding without operating. Or the shot can ricochet off the collar bone into the cervical vertebrae (para/quad/dead) or lower skull & send bone splinters into the grey matter. Which is why they now tell plods NOT to take shoulder shots.

2: Queensland Police are in another time/space continuum. I used to work on the Police 000 in NSW, I have had Telstra operators begging me to take Queensland calls because the Queensland Police wouldn't answer the phone. I think there was a stink about that, so they now have an answering machine - leave your number & they will get back to you - if you are still alive to answer the phone it probably wasn't important.

I should stop now before I get all nasty about Police administration/management in general.

An excerpt from my law text book:

Criminal Activity
One aspect of negligence law that has attracted widespread media attention and subsequent public criticism is the situation where a person is injured while committing a crime and then sues the victim of the crime for negligence. In response, the civil liability reforms in most jurisdictions provide that no duty of care arises in respect of conduct engaged in self defence against unlawful activities. Furthermore, criminals are unable to recover damages for personal injury suffered during the commission of a serious offence.