Tuesday 20 March 2012

The New Definition Of ‘Defending Yourself’…

A man has been sentenced to six years in prison after killing a man in the street with a single punch.
And his current squeeze is distraught:
Barrett's fiancée, Elisha Mitchell, who supported him at court, said: "It's like he's been sent to prison for defending himself. He is going to appeal the length of sentence. Six years is very harsh."
Hmmm, so how did he ‘defend himself’?
Barrett first met Mr Lee and Mr Lee's friend David Knight after they called at the home of Barrett's girlfriend, Elisha Mitchell one night last August.

Mr Knight said Barrett answered and became aggressive, asking: "What do you want my girlfriend for?"

Mr Lee and Mr Knight walked away from the door and Barrett followed and confronted them.
Ah. Right…
Barrett, 25, of Collier Road, Calverton, claimed he had been trying to defuse "an increasingly weird situation".

He said words had been exchanged in the street before he jogged towards them.

"I wanted them to turn and run," he said.
But why? By your own admission, they were walking away

Your woman is standing by her man, despite this:
She said Barrett was an art student at the time of the incident. He has his own daughter and hoped to adopt to Miss Mitchell's four-year-old girl.
Clearly, the best possible choice to raise a child with, love.

7 comments:

Captain Haddock said...

Numpties like Barratt really do engineer their own downfall and should engender no sympathy ..

Barrett, 25, of Collier Road, Calverton, claimed he had been trying to defuse "an increasingly weird situation" ...

A bit like defusing an IED by kicking it up in the air, I suppose .. ;)

But I'm still left pondering the reason(s) why two men should come knocking at the door & asking for the lovely Elisha ? ..

One can but speculate ..

Woman on a Raft said...

Shane Lee knew Elisha Mitchell. Her house was on the way to the Friar Tuck pub. The men stopped off on their way there, possibly with a view to taking the cocaine which Shane Lee had bought earlier. (Knight says no, they didn't intend to take it at the house.)

Barratt answered the door and wanted to know their business. This is jealous domineering behaviour but it may also reflect that he didn't much care for the policies of the visitors.

This does not justify the fight or the consequences, but it throws some possible light on why the exchange became nakedly territorial.

http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/Shane-Lee-manslaughter-trial-Man-tells-desperate/story-15351519-detail/story.html

Woman on a Raft said...

For clarification: Barratt admitted having a quantity of cannabis on him, how much we don't know, nor if he had been taking it at the time. Enough that Barratt considered this to be incriminating and set about disposing of it and his clothes.

Woodsy42 said...

Have you noticed how many people in these sorts of violent situation now describe themselves as 'students'?

Puncho said...

Defend yourself by lashing out first, of course. A classic pre-emptive move.

Chavs are pre-empting all over the place, night after night...

microdave said...

I guess "Killing a man in the street with a single punch" isn't particularly harsh, then?


Ye Gods...

JuliaM said...

"Numpties like Barratt really do engineer their own downfall and should engender no sympathy .."

I certainly don't have any for them.

As for why they might be knocking on Elisha's door, well, WoaR has the answer to that.

"...but it throws some possible light on why the exchange became nakedly territorial. "

It is pretty much the same behaviour you'd see on 'Life On Earth', isn't it? I almost expect to see Attenborough narrating some of these cases...

"Have you noticed how many people in these sorts of violent situation now describe themselves as 'students'?"

Yup! I think they believe it counts as mitigation.