OZ: Man Faces Murder Charge for Breaking Intruder’s Neck During Citizen’s Arrest
29th March 2016
Ben Batterham, 33, says that he found Richard James Slater, 34, in his young daughter’s bedroom at his home in New South Wales, Australia, at around 3:30am on Saturday. A scuffle between the two men ensued, in which Mr Batterham says that he was trying to perform a citizen’s arrest on the intruder. Mr Batterham says he was assisted by a friend who helped retain Mr Slater in a chokehold until police arrived.
By the time that police came to the scene, Mr Slater had suffered a broken neck and was unconscious. He was taken to nearby John Hunter Hospital but could not be revived and his family decided to turn off his life support on Sunday, AU News reports.
Mr Batterham was initially charged with recklessly inflicting grievous bodily harm but the charge was upgraded to murder once the life machine was switched off.
In Texas, he’d be getting an award.