Where's the Justice?

Brian Knight, shown outside the Stettler courthouse with his wife in 2009, will to jail for shooting a thief. CBC
I just read a news article about an Albertan farmer who will be serving 90 days in the slammer for defending his own property from thieves. Here's the article

A central Alberta farmer who shot a man stealing his ATV more than two years ago will serve 90 days in jail.Brian Knight learned his sentence in a Red Deer courtroom Friday after pleading guilty to criminal negligence in January. Justice Monica Bast rejected the defence's argument that the shooting was impulsive, saying she believed Knight was aware to some degree what he was doing.

Knight chased and used a shot gun to fire at a man who was stealing Knight's ATV from his farm near Tees, Alta. In the early morning of March 26, 2009, Knight found three men in his farmyard. Read More

While I fully understand that we do not ever want armed vigilantes wandering our streets, the fact of the matter is that the thief in this case came onto Knights property ( his home) with the sole intention of robbing him. So, how would the justice system have an individual defend his property?

Yes, one could notify the local police, but I suspect in many cases  (this one included) that both the thieves and the homeowners property would be long gone and never to be seen again. Now the authorities response to any criticism on their response generally is something to the affect of  "we have limited resources and we can't be everywhere, all the time, so we prioritize". However, that really does not help the victim much even thought it is accurate.

This one I can speak to from experience, years ago I was aroused at 2:00 am from a sound sleep by two of our cities finest who asked me if I owned a boat, when I informed them that I did and it was located in my back yard, their reply was simple and direct "not anymore". They then proceeded to inform me that I should contact my insurance company in the morning and report the theft as chances are my boat would be out of the province by morning and sitting at a lake somewhere, never to be recovered. So I reported the theft to my insurance company and in about a month received a cheque to replace my boat, however the value received was not adequate to replace what I lost, so I was forced to pony up some more cash out of pocket. The best part of this story was that my insurance rates increased on renewal due to my claim. So, lets see I was out a boat and forced to pay for the privilege.

By the way, in case your wondering, I do not live on a farm, I live in the heart of a major city. In fact the only reason that the police responded that night was that my neighbor called them after being woken by his barking dog and although he jumped out of bed and ran outside he was just in time to watch my boat disappear in the distance. Funny thing, the way my neighbour tells the story he was dressed very similar to Mr. Knight when he gave chase with a baseball bat.

So, to a great extent my sympathies on this one lie with Mr Knight, who knows maybe his thief was the same one that stole my boat years ago, now that would be delayed justice.