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From Novinite News 04/03/2011


A UK expat has stabbed a Bulgarian neighbor in Northeast Bulgaria in a midnight brawl over loud music.

The incident reported Friday by the police occurred the night of March 3 in the village of Trastika, Popovo Municipality, Targovishte District.

It was caused by a gathering in the home of a 51-year-old Bulgaria whose loud paying of chalga music - a genre mixing folklore with Balkan and Arab motifs - disturbed the entire street.

A 48-year-old Englishman living in a neighboring house came out of his home armed with a bat and a knife after asking earlier the partying Bulgarians to turn down the music.

In the ensuing brawl, the Englishman whose name is reported as Roger K., stabbed the home-owner Stefcho G. After that the Brit himself called an ambulance.

The Bulgarian's life was saved in the hospital in Targovishte.

According to the Trud daily, Roger K. has been in Bulgaria for 2 years. He has been living off a retirement pension.

The paper reports two more UK families also have houses in Trastika but they spend only their summers there.

beautifulangel wrote:

Don't think he's got much hope of self defense though when he went outside with a knife.

Same as Palfreeman, then. If you go out with a knife, there is a likelihood you will use it.

Its all very sad this is. A person moves to another country and then gets himself into so much trouble he could spend a lot of time behind bars, I know what he's done is so very wrong but how sad.

LisA wrote:

Its all very sad this is. A person moves to another country and then gets himself into so much trouble he could spend a lot of time behind bars, I know what he's done is so very wrong but how sad.

The problem is that people do think Bulgaria is the Wild West. Back in 2005, I was in a bar where a Brit was playing with his gun in front of all the other clients (Smith &
Wesson, I believe). He had just acquired it. Why? Because he could. Did he ever use it? Maybe, I don't know. But, if he didn't intend to, why bring it to a bar? Left at home is one thing, but bringing it with you to a bar is entirely different.

coriolanus wrote:

LisA wrote:

Its all very sad this is. A person moves to another country and then gets himself into so much trouble he could spend a lot of time behind bars, I know what he's done is so very wrong but how sad.

The problem is that people do think Bulgaria is the Wild West. Back in 2005, I was in a bar where a Brit was playing with his gun in front of all the other clients (Smith &
Wesson, I believe). He had just acquired it. Why? Because he could. Did he ever use it? Maybe, I don't know. But, if he didn't intend to, why bring it to a bar? Left at home is one thing, but bringing it with you to a bar is entirely different.

Yes, taking a gun into a bar is just asking for trouble, who did he think he was Wyatt Erp?

itchyfeet wrote:

Yes, taking a gun into a bar is just asking for trouble, who did he think he was Wyatt Erp?

More, sort of Rambo-ish, I think

I have a friend who is a lawyer and he says that the law on guns and knives is fairly ambiguous. if you were carrying it for a ligitimate reason. ie hunting, fishing etc then you might have a chance at claiming its a spur of the moment thing to use it on another person. Small chance of claiming self defence. But if your carrying a weapon in town, round to the neighbours, in the pub etc then it is premeditated. So although I think it's really sad that someone should get themselves in such an awful mess. Complaining to the neighbours about celebrating a national holiday, breaking their windows and stabbing them. Doesn't look too defendable.

beautifulangel wrote:

if you were carrying it for a ligitimate reason. ie hunting, fishing etc then you might have a chance at claiming its a spur of the moment thing to use it on another person.

If that is the case, why did Palfreeman's lawyer not use it as a defence?

Guys

I think we are venturing off topic here a little so perhaps one of you could open a new topic
regarding legitimate reason for firearms or weapons.

Thanks Oddy

LisA wrote:

Its all very sad this is. A person moves to another country and then gets himself into so much trouble he could spend a lot of time behind bars, I know what he's done is so very wrong but how sad.

Very sad indeed Lisa and I see where your coming from but we must not forget that if you break the law no matter what your state of mind you will not get away with it. Its ironic really when you consider the things that go on in Bulgaria on a daily basis and yet nothing ever gets mentioned about it but because its a Brit then its big news.

We could talk about this until the cows come home, but the problem is none of us have the full facts on what happened. The whole thing could be totally different to how the media have viewed it.

What your saying is so true June we could talk about this forever and a day and I'm sure some others have already debated it to the extreme and possibly even acted as judge and jury especially the Brits who are expert as this sort of thing and I'm not going to mention another forum where I've read the rubbish but lets just remember as June has said none of us know what is the truth and what is news hype so I tend to take most of what I read in the rags with a pinch of salt. However I must say that I do feel for both the victim and the assailant.

Wow iv had a few runnings with people in our block because we have a 10 month old baby but i wouldnt go that far with it.

Lets just hope that justice prevails for both parties involved.

Anybody know what's happening with this case? has it been to court yet? and if so what was the outcome?

i don't think it's come to court yet. i think it will most likely make the papers when it does as most other cases involving people from other countries seem to have been reported on. if bulgarian law is anything like english he'll probably be on remand for months.