A popular Abuja-based Lawyer, Stan Alieke, has urged Nigerians to resist the urge to resort to excessive force when repelling dangerous attackers, arguing that those who do could face criminal prosecution and a potential jail sentence.
The Lawyer in a Thursday statement on IG expressed that when defending against an attacker, the law prohibits using excessive force.
The statement reads, “The force you use in defending yourself must be commensurate with the force used by the attacker if otherwise, you will be held for manslaughter. For instance, if a thief breaks into your house with a knife and you bring out your gun and shoot the thief, you will be jailed for manslaughter because the gun you used is not commensurate to the knife of the thief.”
Furthermore, the lawyer advised that setting physical traps for thieves or criminals without warning the perpetrators may lead to the individual being tried on the grounds of negligence.
He wrote, “A thief tries to break into your house, and he gets electrocuted by the electric fencing you installed in your house, or he gets bitten to death by the guard dog in your compound, and he tries to jump the fence, you will be prosecuted and charged for manslaughter, and you will likely go to jail.
“If you must set a trap in your premises to deter or catch thieves, the law expects you to put a notice on your wall where it will be seen by everybody notifying/ warning of that trap, or you will be held for negligence.”
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The lawyer cites an example of a previous criminal prosecution, “In the case of Katko v. Brinney, Mr Brinney had his farmhouse constantly robbed so he set up a trap to deter/catch the thieves, Mr Katko the thief without knowing of the trap already set broke into the property to rob & he was severely injured by the trap so he decided to sue Mr Brinney the property owner for the injury and grievous bodily harm.
“The court awarded damages in the thief’s favour against the property owner.”
The lawyer further expressed that the law places a higher value on human lives than property, urging Nigerians to notify criminals of any physical traps on their properties, with signage that is easily seen and recognised.
“This above case emphasised the principle that the law places a higher value on human lives than on property, and if you must use any kind of trap to protect your property, you are expected to place a notice warning invaders of the traps; signs like “Dog on Guard”, “Electric Fencing” “, Danger Zone, Keep off” etc,” he concluded.
“If you don’t do any of this & a person sustains injury or dies as a result of the trap even even when the person is trying to forcefully break into your premises, you will be charged for negligence & for manslaughter & you will go to jail.”
