Dateline Australia - Murder

[Disco]

BlackBelt Mag. December issue...... Melbourne Australia.........

Martial artist will face murder charges for allegedly striking another man with a spin kick to the head.

Three men (18+) confronted the MA looking for a fight. Trying to back away he landed the kick as one of the men tried to strike him. He is in custody pending a hearing.

Can you imagine the fallout, not only there but here in the U.S., if they should somehow find him guilty of murder. I don't know Australian Law, but a murder charge sounds really reaching.

 

[Cthulhu]

It was 3 vs. 1. If his lawyer can't get the charges dropped, then there's something seriously wrong. I thought this kind of crap only happened here in the U.S.

Cthulhu

 

[Rich Parsons]

Back in the day

6 Guys go to it one of my female employees. I stopped the punch, and and grabbed the guys throat, and lectured the rest of the guys about not hitting women/girls (she was 16). I let go of teh guys throat he went down, the other five jumped me. They had done this before as they each had a job of trying to tie up appendages and drag a jacket over my head. I lifted both feet and kicked the guy in front of me. We all went down. I cleared my arms, and started punching/elbowing and kicking from the ground. Two guys stepped in and said 6 on 1 was not a good thing. Yes the guy I let go of jumped back in. These two guys each took 1 a piece. The four of them and me were up and hten down numerous times. When they all jumped towards me in the fight we were all knocked off balance and we went through a large 8 wide x 6 tall window. I went low on purpose, and the window popped out and up. We went through, I rolled and rolled and was clear of the falling glass. It was the bouncing of the safety glass that cut them to ribbons. I convinced them to leave and when they got into their car, one of them lunged back at me with a knife. I was lucky and saw the flash. I then parried and wrist locked and disarmed, and the bad guys' head bounced off of the rook on the inside. It was this time that the police decided to show. Four guys cut up and bleeding from the glass, two guys really beat, the two from the helpers, I never found out who did help me. And me standing there holding a knife.

And Yes, the police wanted to arrest me on the spot. Obviously since there were so many of them and just me, as the other two ran off, and they were obviously hurt and I was not, and had the weapon in my hand. .

I had to convince the police that I had to close the place if they arrested me, and would have to wait until everyone's ride showed up. They agreed to let me turn myself in after I closed.

Long night in police custody after that, with them taking pictures of my bruises and me telling my story over and over.

I survived with no court time on that one, yet I did have to answer lots of questions. And that was with no one getting murdered or killed in self defense. I could easily see the police holding someone when they have to explain a dead body. At least from my own experience.

 

[Disco]

The police were trying to sort everything out in your case, so it is understandable that they would hold overnight. The case downunder however has a different time element. The guy that died due to the kick, died several days later in the hosiptal. Why they have the MA now in custody is ???? According to the story, there were witnesses that stated what happened and supported the MA's story.

I know there are some members from Australia. Perhaps someone could investigate for us and give some additional information on this. Between the story and the MA being held, somethings out of focus with this.

 

[Rich Parsons]

Disco,

I agree in my case I saw no problem with the holding or discussing things over night.

And thank you for the follow up as I did not know it was a few days later.

 

[satans.barber]

It's not murder is it, but I wouldn't be surprised if he got done for manslaughter.

Still, kicking people in the head is a risky business (exercise for the reader; do spinning kicks have a real place in self defence, when you can't necessarily see or properly focus on your target..?), but then again so is three onto one...

These kinds of things are very interesting to me, but they're cropped up so many times now they're not surprising anymore. In this age of `burglars' rights` and all that crap who knows what you can realistically get away with anymore.

Certainly the way I teach techniques I do try and point out very clearly the risky bits, anything that involves hitting the back of the head or the throat for example, I always stop and say look, don't be getting this far unless you're properly fearing for your life. Or, imagine what this is going to look like on CCTV...

Ian.

 

[7starmantis]

Yeah, now days its not about the law, but who has the "better" attourney.

Not knowing the whole story, its hard to comment, but if its truly as it sounds, and he is convicted of murder, it would be a huge hit to the MA community legally.

7sm

 

[fringe_dweller]

Knowing our legal system things could get nasty... but with three on one I would say that things should turn out ok. When I hear more about the trial I'll let you know.

Cheers

edit:

Not sure if this is the story or not....

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/10/28/1067233171700.html?from=storyrhs

A "bloody thug" jailed for six years for killing a teenager with a martial arts kick should have been tried for murder, the victim's father said yes-terday.

John Linskens said outside the Supreme Court that he and his family were upset and confused by the legal system after his son's killer was sentenced.

Ryan Leigh Johns, 20, was given a minimum jail term of 3½ years after pleading guilty to the manslaughter of Aaron Linskens, 18.

Johns will be eligible for parole in about 25 months after serving 513 days in pre-sentence detention.

Justice Geoffrey Nettle said Johns kicked Mr Linskens in the head with a "spinning martial arts-type" kick early on June 1 last year.

The kick took place in the car park of the Village Green Hotel at Glen Waverley.

Fights were taking place there in an atmosphere described as being like a soccer riot.

Justice Nettle said Johns, of Amazon Grove, Rowville, launched himself from a car bonnet into a fight with a punching action.

He said Johns approached Mr Linskens, who was near a grassy knoll watching a confrontation, and hit him with what was described as a roundhouse kick.

Mr Linskens hit the surface of the car park, suffering massive head injuries and brain damage. Within minutes, he passed into a coma from which he never recovered.

He died in hospital two days later.

Justice Nettle said Johns used his martial arts skills to injure Mr Linskens for no better reason than the fun of it.

He said the attack occurred despite Johns's conviction in July 2001 after kicking another man in the head, and an incident in October 2001 in which he broke a man's nose.

Justice Nettle said Johns's ability to deliver the kick to Mr Linskens was a weapon in itself.

"You took calculated and cowardly advantage of your martial arts skills in order to kick the head of an untrained and unsuspecting victim," he said.

Justice Nettle said 550 to 600 patrons were at the hotel's sports bar on the night of the killing.

He said it was remarkable that only one exit was used after closing time because other doors were shut in case poker machine players were distracted.

Johns pleaded not guilty to murder, but the prosecution accepted a guilty plea to manslaughter after four days of a Supreme Court murder trial.

Outside court, John Linskens said his son was an innocent bystander who was attacked by a "bloody thug".

"I would have liked to have seen (the case) push on for a murder trial, definitely," he said.

"It seems to our family the taking of a life and the charge of manslaughter (are) treated as commonplace in our system.

"The punishment for manslaughter seems to be on a par with what we thought (was suitable) for lesser crimes."

 

[Seig]

Thanks for the link and the article. I hope that is a different case, altogether. The story you provided, I'm afraid I would have to agree with the parents.....

 

[theletch1]

Originally posted by Seig
Thanks for the link and the article. I hope that is a different case, altogether. The story you provided, I'm afraid I would have to agree with the parents.....

Yes, I agree with the parents there and do believe it's a different story. I can see where the prosecution would go after manslaughter versus murder though. To get a murder conviction would have meant having to prove that the kick was launched with the intent to kill. Sounds like the death occured as a result of trauma from hitting the pavement, as these types of death often do. It's not the contact of the kick or punch that kills but the trauma of hitting something hard on the way down.

 

[Disco]

It's the same story. Names are all the same, but what BB mag wrote was totally different.

From the mag: "The altercation reportedly occured in a parking lot near the Village Green Hotel. The victim, Aaron Liskens, and his friends are said to have confronted Jones while angling for a fight, but Jones tried to back away with his hands in the air, witnesses said. Jones allegedly landed the kick as the 18-year-old attacker prepared to strike him."

The only thing the same from both stories is that somebody died from a kick to the head. Now the obvious question, which story is real. I think I would have to go with the posted story from fringe dweller, it's from the news paper. Don't quite understand why BB mag would distort the story the way they have.

 

[Seig]

Originally posted by Disco
Don't quite understand why BB mag would distort the story the way they have.

Because BB is the National Enquirer of the MA world.....