Friday, September 2, 2011

Charges dropped against pair who defended own property

One of the best reasons why Canada needs a Castle Doctrine:

Sun News : Charges dropped against pair who defended own property

He made at least eight documented complaints to Peel police about thieves stealing from his yard. Hutchins supplied licence plates, descriptions, even preserved a boot print. "We did all the work for them," he argues.

He was told to hire himself a security guard. He's not a big utility company or a brand name corporation being ripped off for its copper. Hutchins runs a small business with his three sons and doesn't have the cash to hire security or sustain thousands of dollars in losses every weekend. So when thieves broke in for the third week in a row, he hatched his plan.

Hutchins armed himself with a baseball bat and lay in wait with his sons. When they spotted a van being loaded with his radiators, he blocked the vehicle with his own, smashed their windshield with his bat and demanded they get out. The thieves took off across the field.

His son caught one kid while Hutchins chased the other with his truck and then got out to subdue him.

"He was a little unco-operative so he has a few black eyes," Hutchins said at the time.

Today he insists the thief must have fallen in the field. "I could have done so much damage to them. We were very, very careful."

The two 17-year-olds readily admitted they'd stolen from Hutchins' yard on six different occasions and they were promptly charged with theft. Hutchins thought his problems were over.

But three days later, he was shocked to learn the teens weren't the only ones in trouble: He and his son were under arrest as well.

Hutchins was charged with mischief over $5,000 for smashing the windshield, assault and assault with a weapon -- the bat -- while his 24-year-old son was charged with theft because he had one of the teens' necklaces in his possession after he'd ripped it off in their struggle.


He was defending his property, and in the process, the two 17 year olds and their burglary equipment got roughed up. There is absolutely no reason why charges should have been laid against the Hutchins family.



2 comments:

  1. The article I read Hutchins didn't know if the thieves were even prosecuted.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sadly, because they were 17 at the time, it's more likely that they were slapped on the wrist and told not to do it again.

    ReplyDelete