My nephew Ben was murdered when he was 16. There are similarities with the murder of the little girl in Liverpool in that he was in his own home when intruders burst in.
At home were his younger sisters (who were upstairs getting ready for bed) and my mum, his grandma.
There were three assailants. All worked together at a KFC. One was 17 and the other two were in their twenties and thirties. They had been drinking that day and had hatched a plan to attack my nephew - because the 17 year old was jealous that Ben had a blossoming friendship with the 17 year olds former girlfriend. There was a history of threats against Ben. These were subsequently found by the police. These included many messages e.g one threat was that he would be found and attacked with a sword.
On the day of the murder they watched Ben’s house and eventually spotted him returning home. It was daylight as it was an early June evening.
They chased him to his house but he managed to get in and close the front door. Alas, this wasn’t enough to deter them, and they proceeded to break in through smashing in the front door. This was witnessed by the neighbours. They battered my mum for getting in their way and knocked her out cold. (Her face looked like a purple cabbage in the days after the attack).
They then beat Ben up using great violence. Three men one 16 year old boy. The 17 year old then went into the kitchen and got a knife and returned to fatally stabbed Ben multiple times whilst he was being held by the other two men. Despite receiving many stab wounds, Ben had no defensive wounds because he was prevented from defending himself.
The three men fled. My mum came round to find Ben bleeding to death. His last words were ‘Grandma - look at all this blood’. He died in his Grandmas arms. He never did make it to his GCSE exams which started the next day and which he’d been studying so hard for.
The three men were soon arrested. They weren’t the cleverest. They had been seen by neighbours. My mum could identify them. There was the threats found on the computer. There was other intel which soon identified them as chief suspects.
When they were arrested they all admitted what they’d done. There was physical evidence. There was dna, fingerprints, eye witness accounts, phone records, text messages between the men, the previous threats, the motive, their confessions.
Eventually one was given 10 years for murder and the other two with given a few years for ABH.
I’m not saying this is a case where a death penalty would have been appropriate. I try not to think too much about that. But it’s an example of a pathetically weak justice system. The sentences were far too lenient in my opinion. The impact on Ben’s mum and sisters, and my mum, are lifelong and devastating. That’s something they’ll never get over.
But the reason I’m using this case as an example for this thread is:-
1. all this talk of revenge being a dirty thing that somehow makes us less human. Well until you’ve had a close family member murdered it’s so easy to look at such events and be holier than though and play the decency card. It should be what the family want that primarily counts when it comes to justice, not what some far removed observers think.
2. This talk of not being 100% certain is ridiculous. There are cases where the evidence will be overwhelming and indisputable. As with Ben’s murder. There’s not a shadow of a doubt that the right people were convicted. There’s not a sane person that would think otherwise. Each case would have to be looked at on its merits. But to say we can’t be sure 100% is nonsense. Yes you can say that when theorising hypothetically, but in a real life case such as my nephews you can be absolutely 100% sure.
. I will go with joking.