Yesterday we told you that the man who chopped 61 year old Ubaldo Guzman to death was charged with manslaughter. According to the ComPol, 43 year old Peter August claimed he attacked Guzman in self defense, which meant the police had to charge based on the DPP's advice. Here's how he explained it.
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"I will not go into specifics but I can say to you that when it comes to a person who has caused the death of another person by unlawful harm, where that person raises the defense of self-defense, the police cannot on our own charge. The criminal code dictates that we must send that decision to the DPP office for directives and in this case, the accused person raises self defense that he was attacked first with a machete by Guzman and he was chopped first and he does have a chop wound and he defended himself leading to Guzman's death. Now this is a situation where two persons are in a house. There are no independent witnesses to contradict what the accused killer is saying and the DPP office would be guided by the evidence before them in arriving at a decision as to whether to charge them with murder or manslaughter. And in this particular case, they opted to charge manslaughter based on the statement given by the killer and so the police simply carried out the instructions as carried out by the DPP's office."
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