No self defense in South Africa?

[Dannyboy]

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/?id=2003/aug03/aug22news2

South African cyclists charged with murder
The two South African cyclists involved in the fatal shooting of a man whom they claim was attempting to steal their bikes will be charged with murder, according to a report in the Beeld newspaper.

Thirty-year-old Scott Griffith and his brother Lloyd (31) spent Sunday night in the cells at Honeydew police station north of Johanessburg after reporting the attack in which they claimed a number of armed men attempted to steal their bikes. In the ensuing shoot-out one of the attackers was wounded and later died in hospital; the others ran away.

According to Brian Price of the Johannesburg Mountain Bike Club, this was the fifth attack in eight days on riders in the area. He and three other riders had been robbed in the same place the previous day.

The Griffith brothers incident was not even the first fatal confrontation between cyclists and would-be bike thieves. On May 25 another mountain bike rider, Danie van Niekerk, was shot in the hand and leg. Van Niekerk returned fire and killed one of the thieves, but was not arrested over the incident.

Scott Griffith's wife, Wilma said on Monday night, "It happens so often that all bike riders carry knives and guns."

The Griffiths' case has been postponed to September 26 pending further investigation.


Sounds like some of our favorite states here in America. Considering that seems to be a common occurrance, it sounds like these guys are getting hosed...big time.

 

[Iain]

Sounds like a bizarre question but it is genuine curiosity: how often do people claim self-defense in what later turns out to be manslaughter (killed someone when they were not under threat - say in a heated argument) or even premeditated murder?

What brings that thought to mind is that a few years back in this country there was a spate of so-called 'road rage' attacks, one famous case involved a woman who said her boyfriend had been killed by another driver in a road rage attack in a quiet country lane. In fact it was she who stabbed him to death as the forensics proved to the courts satisfaction.