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[–] 1 point 20 hours ago* (1 child)

I was afraid, confused and frightened, as any reasonable person in the situation when my home was broken into when I was asleep.

33 StGB

Whoever exceeds the limits of self-defence due to confusion, fear or fright incurs no penalty.

The other legalese is literally making sure noone tries to use it as an excuse to "pre-emptively" maliciously defend themselves by shooting, idk, e.g. all the gingers, or shoots a child for stealing an apple from your orchard.

Heck, even shooting your stalker could be considered justified self defense under German law.

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  • Proof in what exact way you were afraid, confused or frightened. Did you fear bodily harm? What made you think that? Did the intruder move to attack you? Did they notice you?

    The law is written such that you need to prove innocence, that is, the existence of these effects. If you cannot prove you felt this way you are guilty.

    as any reasonable person in this situation would

    That is not sufficient. It is always scary to be put into a situation where the need to self defence arises. You must prove your terror was exceptional.

    According to law student material of a university:

    The asthenic affect [confusion, fear fright] must be of such severity that the perpetrator is able to process the events only to a significantly reduced extent.

    https://www.uni-potsdam.de/de/rechtskunde-online/rechtsgebiete/strafrecht/entschuldigungsgruende/notwehrexzess-33-stgb

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