Following a hearing in Newcastle Local Court earlier today, Ben Batterham is set to remain in jail, and the public is not happy.
Batterham did not apply for bail or opt to appear at the hearing.
The 33-year-old man has been charged over the death of 34-year-old Ricky Slater, who allegedly broke into Batterham’s home on Saturday night.
According to his family, Batterham awoke at approximately 3:30am to find Slater near his daughter’s bedroom and attempted to make a citizen’s arrest.
When police arrived they found three men fighting, two of whom were detaining Slater.
Slater then lost consciousness and was rushed to the nearby John Hunter Hospital, where he later died surrounded by his family.
Despite being arrested on charges of grievous bodily harm, Batterham’s charges have since been upgraded to murder.
Following the upgraded charges, an online petition has since been created that demands Batterham’s charges be dropped.
Addressed to the NSW Attorney General, the petition reads, “Homeowners should be able to defend their families from criminals who break into their homes – and Benjamin should be released now!!!”
The petition has almost 14,000 signatures.
The support has also flowed on social media, with many using the hashtag #freebenbatterham and #changethelaw expressing their views that Batterham was simply defending his family and should not face murder charges.
“I stand behind Ben Batterham and what he did to protect his family. This is a disgusting miscarriage of justice, if the intruder was not in somone elses house he would not have been fatally injured by the owner of the home trying to protect his family.. The home owner should go free no questions asked, we must stop protecting criminals and their families at the expense of the real victims. If the stupid pr**k wasn’t in that house he’d be alive. Enough said,” one Facebook user wrote.
Slater had previously served time in jail for aggravated break in and enter offences, and was released in December 2015.
While Slater’s family maintain that he was invited to Batterham’s post for a party, the cause of the death has yet to be confirmed by police.
The matter has been adjourned until 25 May.
Quicky News Headlines: Thursday April 25th 2024
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Top Comments
1. You are allowed to make a citizens arrest, the same as Police are.
2. you may use reasonable force when making a citizens arrest.
3.Slater being large may have struggled violently in a confident hope he would escape, and may in fact have gotten his neck broken through his own efforts to resist apprehension.
4. If the Police had behaved exactly as Batterham did, they would be getting citations for bravery. Witness the inherent bias in the system.
5. Murder it is a ridiculous charge to make under the circumstances, but it seems Police prefer to punish the innocent and slap serious charges on them at a
moments notice. We've seen this as well in the Gable Tostee case.
6. Slater should be on bail for grievous bodily harm at the very most. 7. If Batterham is convicted of anything , Australia truly has a lot to fear form the nanny state and big brother.
Hopefully this incident will be a catalyst for a change in the law. For too long, the lawful citizens of Australia have had their rights ignored in favour of the courts protecting criminals. As the online advocacy for Mr Batterham shows, the good people pf Australia have had a gutful of criminals constantly walking out of court with a slap on the wrist (if they even get that). The law in this country needs to be changed to protect the victims of crime and not the perpetrators. Contrary to what those of left-wing persuasion seem to think, Slater is not the victim in this incident; he is the end result of his own malice. The victim in this incident is Mr Batterham who only acted as his home was invaded. The law needs to remember this.