Self-Defense or Premeditated Murder?

    As I was scrolling through CNN, there was a particular story that caught my eye. It was about these three sisters in Russia being accused of murder for killing their abusive father that threatened to kill them. Although they were accused of premeditated murder, that is definitely not what happened between these sisters. 

    For years these teen girls were abused physically, emotionally, and sexually. One day when their father came home, he blew off on them once again and pepper-sprayed their faces. That's when these sisters decided to put a stop to their abuse. The girls beat him in his sleep with a hammer, a knife, and the pepper-spray used against them from earlier and tried inflicting wounds against themselves to say that they killed him self defense. After arresting the girls they gave their statements and went through evaluations, after they concluded that they suffer from PTSD and abuse syndrome.    

    When the trials started they were being prosecuted for premeditated murder, but that soon changed to self-defense once all the evidence was heard and observed. As the trial continued and they saw the texts between them and their father, experts think they had no other choice or else they would've died at the hands of their father, which I believe as well. 

    These girls had no choice but to kill their own father, I mean they would get beaten, pepper-sprayed, and he would call them horrible names that no one should tell their children. It was so bad that they got mental illnesses, and for them to even have to go through the struggles of the court and the media is even worse. 

    In the end, was this self-defense or premeditated murder? Do you think they should've done something differently instead of kill their father? If you were in their shoes what would you have done?