I do have sympathy for the bloke. And even more for his wife, who felt she had no option but to terminate her pregnancy due to the uncertainty.
But unfortunately it just isn’t true to say he was protecting his home and his family. He was doing the opposite of that in fact. He was seeking vengeance. You can argue that’s totally understandable and I wouldn’t necessarily disagree. You can’t allow for acts of retribution not to be covered by law. It was up to a jury to decide if he was guilty, once he decided to run a trial. And as sad as the whole thing was, his comments on camera before the case, suggested he did himself no favours in there.
None of that is disagreeing with anybody suggesting that career criminals such as the two thieves shouldn’t be dealt with much harsher, just to be clear.