Father cleared after chopping off intruder's ear with Samurai sword
Father cleared after chopping off intruder's ear with Samurai sword
A father-of-two who used a Samurai sword to defend his family against a pair of intruders, resulting in him severing one of their ears, has walked free from prison.
By Chris Irvine
Published: 7:30AM GMT 11 Feb 2010
https://teakdoor.com/images/imported/2010/02/399.jpg Michael Severs Photo: Hull News and Pictures
Builder David Fullard, 46, from Brough, East Yorkshire, was prosecuted for attacking Michael Severs, 22, after using a "battlefield weapon" to defend his home when he and Michael Smith, 19, forced their way into his home. However he was cleared of unlawful wounding in November last year following a nine-month legal battle.
The ordeal once again raises the debate about the role of self-defence in the home. Last month businessman Munir Hussain was freed from prison after attacking a burglar who held him and his family hostage. Hussain, whose prison sentence was suspended by the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge, has called on the current law on self defence to be "revisited".
The judge at Hull Crown Court lifted reporting restrictions yesterday after the men who threatened him were given six month suspended prison sentences after admitting affray.
The court heard that Severs and Smith, who were high on drink and drugs, vaguely knew Mr Fullard's eldest son Tom, 17, and knocked on the door of the family home claiming he owed them £5. The pair then barged into the living room and threatened Mr Fullard's long-term partner Susan Neal, 53. Mr Fullard's youngest son Danny, 14, was also in the house.
“I wanted the flat of the sword to hit him. I hit him once. I thought he was going to kill me or put me in hospital. I thought to myself he is going to take me apart," Mr Fullard told the jury.
"If there had been a walking stick there. I would have hit him with a walking stick. I just wanted to stop him."
The prosecution had argued that the use of the Samurai sword was a case of self defence gone too far.
Mr Fullard's barrister Mark Bury argued however: “This is not a man who settles disputes with his fist or a sword. To do so would go against the principles he has held all his life. This was lawful, anticipatory, self- defence. You do not have to wait until you are hit. The two men were frightening men."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukne...rai-sword.html
Well, they won't be so keen to barge into someones living room high on drink and drugs again ....... you would hope.
