A fed-up Victorian has thrown his support behind a push to give homeowners greater powers to protect their properties during a break-in.
Outspoken personal trainer Chris Katelaris urged residents to ‘make a racket’ and help push through tougher protections such as ‘castle law’.
Castle law, or the castle doctrine, grants legal protection to UK residents using ‘reasonable force’ for self-defense against intruders.
Currently, Australia’s self-defense laws restrict homeowners from using lethal force to safeguard their properties. As aggravated burglary rates increase in Victoria, there are growing demands for stricter legislation.
A recent incident involved a father being stabbed in the head during a home invasion by five masked intruders in Kew East, Melbourne, on Sunday night.
Libertarian MP David Limbrick promised last week to propose a motion in state parliament to empower homeowners, while Attorney-General Sonya Kilkenny opposed the move, arguing that existing self-defense laws are already ‘proportionate’.
Mr Katelaris labelled Kilkenny’s response a ‘spit in the face’.
‘This is coming from a person who likely resides in a secure home with panic buttons, where security and police would arrive within minutes,’ he commented in a TikTok video.
Australian Chris Katelaris (above) has called for Victorians to make ‘a racket’ about strengthening self-defence laws
Police investigated a grisly home invasion on Sunday (above), after five masked thugs allegedly broke into a family home in East Kew, Melbourne
‘But for someone like you and I, we have to rely solely on our mobile phones while someone is in our house with potentially deadly weapons.
‘As far as I’m concerned, I’d rather be judged by 12 than carried by six.
‘If they don’t give you what you need in terms of real self-defence laws, you make a racket.’
Home invasion rates in Victoria have more than doubled since 2021.
According to the Crime Statistics Agency, 2021 saw 46.4 aggravated burglary offences per 100,000 individuals, which surged to 97.9 in the year leading up to March.
Other Melburnians have said they are moving out of their suburbs and into apartments as they grow increasingly fearful of intruders.
New Zealander Chrissy Skye said she was ‘getting the f*** out’ of her Altona home, in south-west Melbourne, after she was left feeling ‘unsafe at night’.
She claims three cars have been stolen in the area and her house was broken into, before five teens stole her $100,000 car.
On Sunday, masked intruders allegedly stabbed a young, Melbourne father in the head and face at his home in the well-to-do suburb Kew East.
The 39-year-old, his wife, and their children were sleeping at the property when five thugs allegedly forced their way into the home.
Victorian Attorney-General Sonya Kilkenny (pictured left, with Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan, right) has previously said self-defence laws are already strong enough
A 39-year-old man was allegedly stabbed in the face in the home invasion, before three were charged with a string of offences (pictured, the East Kew home)
They dragged the father and mother into separate rooms, before the 39-year-old began to fight back.
He was stabbed multiple times in the ‘head, face, and arms,’ police said.
The mother was forced into a bedroom with her two young children while the 39-year-old was set upon.
The children’s grandparents, who were also in the home, were injured after trying to come to the man’s aid.
The 39-year-old was rushed to hospital with serious injuries, his wife was treated for cuts and bruises, while the children, two and three, were unharmed.
The grandparents, aged 69 and 70, were also caught up in the chaos and taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. A fifth adult in the house escaped without physical harm.
Four of the masked offenders allegedly fled in the victim’s luxury BMW, while a fifth allegedly escaped in the car they had arrived in.
A 24-year-old man and two teenagers, aged just 16 and 17, were charged with a string of offences, including aggravated home invasion, intentionally causing serious injury, and false imprisonment.
