Up to prosecution to classify case

family members, then it’s self-defence. But the key word is “excessiveness”.

“If reasonable force is employed, then it can be self-defence. But if you go beyond that and used excessive force, then it may be considered as murder,” he told theSun.

Salim added that murder is committed when a person has intention to kill and should be deliberate, while culpable homicide is causing the death of another but without the intention to kill.

He was referring to a case in Johor where a robber, who had broken into a house and threatened the house owner with a screwdriver, was killed in a scuffle while attempting to escape with the loot.

In the Jan 4 incident, the suspect – who had records for 14 offences – was stabbed by the houseowner with a 22-cm-long knife in the neck, severing his jugular artery.

The 32-year-old owner has since been remanded until Jan 10, and is being investigated under the Criminal Procedure Code for murder.

Salim, however, said absolute discretion on whether the act constituted murder lies with the prosecution, and that it depended on the facts of the case.

“That is something they (prosecution) have to prove in court.

In 2003, a similar high-profile case involving veteran lawyer Datuk Balwant Singh, who killed a despatch clerk, ended up with the lawyer being acquitted, after

Case 1 June 7, 2002 Datuk Balwant Singh, a veteran lawyer, shot dead a despatch clerk who assaulted and tried to rob him in Jalan Maarof, Kuala Lumpur. The High Court acquitted Balwant on July 23, 2003, saying he acted in self-defence.

Case 2 Jan 7, 2010 Housewife S. Kalaichelvi, 24, then pregnant, killed a man with a parang and a rod in self-defence after he broke into her house in Ayer Tawar, Perak and tried to rape her. The Ipoh High Court sentenced her to two years’ in jail for culpable homicide, saying the crime was committed in a cruel manner.

Case 3 Dec 7, 2015 Trader Mohamad Zulkifli Ismail, 50, stabbed two men who were trying to rob him at his house in Kerteh, Terengganu, killing one of them. On Dec 27, 2015, he was charged with murder under Section 302 of the Penal Code which carries the mandatory death sentence.

the court decided that he had acted in the exercise of the right of self-defence.

Balwant Singh, then 81, was initially charged with murdering R. Gobala Krishnan, 33, on June 7, 2002.