Guard shoots attacker: charged with murder

[Bruce in West Oz]

Now THIS is going to be an interesting trial.

On the face of it, the charge is ludicrous -- robber attacks security guard, beating her about face with knuckledusters. She pursues him; he gets into getaway vehicle and drives at her; she draws gun and fires through windscreen, killing perp.

HOWEVER, there is (as always) any number of rumours doing the rounds about it being a "fallout among thieves" incident.

The gerneral belief, though, is that she had been charged because, under our stupid legislation, her life was not in "immediate danger" (.i.e. she could have got out of the way) and if she hadn't pursued the perp the incident wouldn't have happened.

Security guard charged with murder
September 13, 2004 - 11:22AM

A Sydney security guard who allegedly shot dead a would-be robber today appeared in court to be formally charged with his murder.

Karen Brown, 40, of Rooty Hill, made a brief appearance today in Liverpool Local Court where she was charged with one count of murder.

Her bail was formally dispensed with and she remains free until her next court appearance on October 27.

Brown, flanked by her husband and two lawyers, was not required to enter a plea.

The security guard allegedly shot and killed William Aquilina, 25, moments after he attacked her with a knuckleduster and stole a bag of cash outside a Sydney pub in July.

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/09/13/1094927479285.html?oneclick=true

 

[Double Naught Spy]

Interesting. There can be a lot of discussion on what is 'driving at' or 'driving in the direct of' a person. It might be hard to argue that she shot the guy going down the street if she were on the sidewalk. The argument would be that cars drive past us every day and we don't feel the need to shoot the drivers. So, at what point is a person just fleeing past you in a car and when is the person attacking with a car?

So, in Australia, can you use lethal force to stop a fleeing felon? Here I am assuming that beating the guard and stealing the cash would count as felonies.

 

[gifted]

I saw something about this earlier on here. IIRC, she had possible brain damage from the incident with the knuckledusters. The biggest problem was that she said she wasn't ready to talk to the police, but talked to the media. Bad ju ju.

 

[LAK]

Don't know about Australian law; but a good opener might be assault with a deadly weapon (knuckledusters) and aggravated robbery - and there's the question of how much "cash" was in the bag. From the point of view of Brown, it really depends on what her powers of arrest are and under what circumstances if any.

Motor vehicle assault is basically assault with a deadly weapon. As for shooting the driver, that is really down to specifics that are not contained in the article. Was she was on her way to grab the guy in an arrest - or to recover the money - but he made it to the car first and tried to hit her? Or was she merely getting a license number etc and Dingo tried to run her over? It becomes a question of could she "get out of the way" with reasonable certainty and safety?