Premier speaks out after Ontario resident charged with assault following home invasion

Ontario Premier Doug Ford comments on a home invasion in Lindsay, Ont., in which a resident was arrested in connection with the assault of an intruder.

Premier Doug Ford is weighing in after an Ontario man was arrested in connection with the assault of an intruder earlier this week, telling reporters that “something is broken” when you can’t “protect your family.”

The incident happened at around 3 a.m. on Monday at an apartment on Kent Street in Lindsay, Ont., which is roughly 43 kilometres west of Peterborough.

Police said a 44-year-old man was asleep when he awoke to find an intruder inside his unit.

An altercation ensued, which resulted in the suspect sustaining serious, life-threatening injuries, they said.

The resident was subsequently charged with aggravated assault and assault with a weapon, while the intruder, a 41-year-old man also from Lindsay, was charged with four offences, including possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose and break-and-enter.

“I know someone breaks into my house, or someone else’s, you’re going to fight, for your life,” Ford said during an unrelated press conference in Hamilton on Wednesday.

“You’re going to use any force you possibly can, to protect your family. I’m telling you, I know everyone would.”

Ford brought up the incident in Lindsay unprompted while discussing his wider concerns with the bail system in Canada.

Kawartha Lakes Police Service previously said the suspect in the break-in was already wanted at the time of his arrest for unrelated offences.

“This criminal that is wanted by the police breaks into this guy’s house, this guy gives him a beating and this guy gets charged. Something is broken,” Ford said.

The premier went on to say that people in this province should be able to use all resources they possibly can to protect their family if someone enters their residence to cause harm.

“Maybe these criminals will think twice about breaking into someone’s home,” he said.

Right to defend self, property ’not unlimited in Canada’: police

Police in Kawartha Lakes, meanwhile, say a person’s right to defend themselves or their property if they believe they are facing a threat is “not unlimited in Canada.”

In a statement released earlier on Wednesday, they said that according to Sections 34 and 35 of The Criminal Code of Canada, individuals have the right to defend themselves and their property using “reasonable force.”

“The law requires that any defensive action be proportionate to the threat faced. This means that while homeowners do have the right to protect themselves and their property, the use of force must be reasonable given the circumstances,” the statement notes.

Police took the rare step of issuing a statement after they said that news of the arrest “generated significant public interest and emotional responses” as well as “unjust and inaccurate” commentary about the officers involved.

They said investigators examined all information and evidence that was available to them before laying any charges, adding that only a limited amount of information is being released to the public at this time about this incident as to both protect the investigation as well as ensure the right of the accused during their court proceedings.

“The role of the police is to investigate impartially and present findings to the justice system, which ultimately determines the outcome,” the statement notes.

“We encourage you to follow this matter as it proceeds through the justice system.”

Criminal defence lawyer weighs in

Criminal defence lawyer Joseph Neurberger, who is not involved in the case, said there is not a lot of information about what exactly transpired inside the home to ascertain why charges were laid against the homeowner.

“We really don’t know enough, and that’s why I think we have to be very careful to withhold judgment right now and not be overly critical of the police, because we don’t know exactly what took place,” Neurberger told CP24.

“I’m sure the Crown attorney will be carefully assessing it, and I’m fairly sure the police really wanted to be very careful before charging the homeowner. But I understand how this is certainly very irritable and concerning to the public,” he added.

Neurberger explained that Canada has sufficient self-defence laws that allow homeowners to respond to intruders with reasonable force.

He added that in certain circumstances where a gun or, in some cases, even a knife is involved, individuals are allowed to use “lethal force” as there’s imminent risk of harm or death.

“An individual has a right to protect their property, but more importantly, to protect themselves or anyone who’s in their home from any imminent threat,” Neurberger said.

“Circumstances depend on what the individual is using to commit their act of crime.”

He explained that a person could be charged with aggravated assault or something more serious if it involved “excessive force.”

“So, let’s take a hypothetical situation for a moment: an intruder comes in, is met by the homeowner. The homeowner uses a bat. He is able to render the person incapable of using a weapon. They’re now on the floor. They’re not reacting, and instead of calling 911, the assault continues. If the assault continues and the person is harmed to the point that they have life-altering injuries or even die, you can imagine those circumstances, you’re dealing with excessive force,” Neurberger said.

He pointed out the law could take into consideration other factors that played a role.

“An individual who is responding to this threat could be in the early morning hours, just woken up, extremely traumatized at that particular moment, in shock, and they’re not able to measure exactly what force they’re using at any given moment or grabbing for a weapon like a baseball bat or something to use to defend themselves, so the law makes allowance for that in these circumstances,” Neurberger explained.

“We really need to know the details of what happened inside that home before we can make a real good assessment of whether the case should be withdrawn or not,” he reiterated.

With files from CTV News’ Chris Fox