Court dismisses murder charge against French farmer who shot burglar
The case of a farmer after he shot a burglar who broke into his home has been dismissed
The man was deemed to have acted in self-defence
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A judge in France has dismissed the case of a man who shot and killed a burglar who had broken into his home, concluding his behaviour was “proportional”.
The judge and prosecutors agreed the man, a 33-year-old farmer from Longré, in the Charente department of south-west France, acted in legitimate self-defence.
The man, who has not been named, was charged with murder after he shot the burglar, a 40-year-old Serbian national who was known to police, on March 25, 2022.
He was alone in the house with his three-year-old daughter and had been sleeping, when he was woken by knocking, then the sound of a breaking window, at around 23:00.
Read more: What is the law on self-defence?
He went downstairs and saw what he thought were two or three burglars. The man grabbed his rifle and fired a warning shot in their direction, he told Le Parisien in 2022. When they did not leave, he fired another shot, hitting one of the men.
“I just wanted to protect my three-and-a-half year old daughter,” he told the paper.
The men – there were actually four – fled, and left the injured burglar outside Ruffec hospital, where he later died of his injuries.
"All the conditions were met for a dismissal. He was a farmer who was quietly at home with his daughter... It was obvious that he was doing everything to protect her," the defendant's lawyer, Maître Marianne Atrous-Lemouëllic, told Le Parisien.
Read more: Tips on reducing the risk of a break-in at your home in France
