Self-Defence

Talking Tessa and Chatty Charlie fretted over what would happen if they found themselves in court. Could they plead self-defence? After all, they had endured endless torture: being forced to talk with constant string-pulling; being bathed against their will; being fed mud and rocks by the victim's older brother Johnny.
Could they be blamed for finishing off their spoilt mistress, after the years of misery they had suffered? Surely you, too, would find being stuffed upside down naked in a toy chest a justifiable reason for final revenge?