May 24th, One Voice civil law suit at the trial of a domestic tyrant who axed to death an injured puppy in front of his 11-year-old step son
An abusive man, who was also
beating his girlfriend’s children, killed a three-month-old Beauceron
puppy with an injured paw by six blows from an axe, before burning
its corpse and burying it in the adjoining woods. One Voice filed a
civil suit immediately after the discovery of the facts for this
little dog called Athena. April 18th
2018 was the first court hearing in Albertville. The judgment was
postponed until May 24th
2018, to obtain a psychiatric report of the suspect. One Voice calls
for exemplary punishment and the creation of a file of people
convicted of violence.
Athena, was three months old
and lived in Grignon in a mixed family, with five children. Wednesday
April 11th,
returning from work, the mother accidentally rolls over the dog’s
paw. To avoid having to pay for the vet care, the husband asks the
vet to euthanize the dog. Faced with opposition from his wife, he
leaves with the little dog. However, warned that the man, who was
disappointed and in a state of rage, says he’s going to kill the
puppy himself, and despite the terror of the children, the
veterinarian does not report this incident to the authorities.
Returning home, the defendant kills Athena with six blows of an axe,
under the horrified gaze of one of the children while the rest of the
family cries in shock. The man then burns Athena’s body in the woods
and tries to bury it to better hide his evil act.
The link between domestic violence and violence of pets
The
beaten child with a disabled foot, the scapegoat of this tyrannical
step father, carried out a heroic act, calling on his own the
gendarmes at the first blow of the axe to the puppy. Between his
personal condition and that of Athena, we quickly understand what
connection this little boy could have made. He will say to the
authorities: “He hit my face with the palm of his hand. (…) At
the same time he screams. He says words to me that I should not have
heard and that I am a good-for-nothing (…) it happens every week
that he hits me, there are some weeks where it’s every day (…) he
says that I am rotten and that I serve no purpose in life (…) he
tells me that he will kill me“.
This
chilling example is typical of the link between the repeated violence
suffered by the children and their mother and of those perpetrated
upon the puppy. As one witness at the hearing confirmed, “He is
capable of killing them all. The dog was an example of what could
happen to them all.”
One Voice civil party to obtain an exemplary sanction
Muriel
Arnal, founding president of One Voice protests:
“For
years, One Voice has been warning about this problem, about the link
between this type of violence. It is essential that veterinarians
report cases of abuse or death threats made to them, as is already
the case in other countries, and that a criminal list be established!
How many more deaths will it take to act? Pets are the first victims,
but it’s also children, whose lives are broken, and women who are
in danger !”
In addition to demanding an
exemplary punishment against this man, we once again urge our
representatives, and the President of the Republic to support the
creation of a criminal record of violence and acts of cruelty
perpetrated upon animals to better detect and punish those
responsible at the height of the facts, not just according to the
victims.