Thank God for the son
The Herald reports:
Laurie Johnston still can’t fathom how his daughter and two grandsons were shot by his son-in-law, Ben Timmins, just days after he was arrested over a family violence incident.
It should never have happened.
Just after midnight on January 14, the Herald understands Timmins, 60, is alleged to have opened fire on his wife and her two sons in a property in the town of Waitārere Beach, about 70km south of Whanganui.
One of the two young men, who were aged 17 and 21, is then understood to have fatally stabbed Timmins allegedly in self-defence.
Laurie Johnston said Timmins used a handgun and praised the actions of his grandson to prevent a greater tragedy.
That young man saved his mother, brother and himself. Awful he had to kill someone as a young age, but thank God he did.
“As far as I’m concerned, that young fella should get a bloody medal.”
Agreed.
Johnston expressed exasperation that his son-in-law could return to the Waitārere Beach Rd property a second time after the protection order was in place.
“They were assured that they would be protected. He was not allowed on the property, not allowed in the bloody main road,” Laurie Johnston said of his understanding of the protection order in place.
Sadly protection orders are all but useless. We need a system where a deliberate breach of one results in automatic holding in jail for a period of time.
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