An exemplary judgment demanded by One Voice for a woman and her abused animals

A
29-year-old man attacked his partner and the family animals: two cats
and a French Bulldog. Violence, a threat of death, stabbing of a cat
and the spraying of bleach on these animals. Thursday, June 8, One
Voice will be a civil party in this sad case again illustrating the
link between violence against humans and animals.

Wednesday,
March 1, 2017 Mr. B returns home, intoxicated. Taking the pretext
that Moana, his one-year-old dog, had urinated on the toilet floor,
he suddenly grabbed him by the cheeks and pretended to strangle him
in front of his partner who is also afraid.

Annoyed
by the reaction of his partner, he tells her that he will go after
her cats next. Unable to catch them, he grabbed the dog by the leg to
lock it in his transport cage. Armed with a kitchen knife, he then
wounds Gandja one of the cats at its lower back, then shows the blade
of the knife stained with blood to his partner, telling here that her
cat is dead.

The
plight of the animals does not stop there because he grabs again the
wounded Gandja and forces lactose powder into its nostrils before
enclosing it in the transport cage along with Moana. He then puts the
transport cage into the bath tub and sprinkles them with a toilet gel
product and bleach tablets.

Ms.
H is in turn abused and threatened with the knife as she tries to
protect her animals. She manages, however, to leave the apartment
while her attacker sprinkles the animals with water and other
products. She will eventually be rescued along with her animals a few
minutes later by police doing their rounds in the neighbourhood.

The
investigation will establish that this is not the first episode of
violence against this woman and her dog. She will confess that a
violent fight broke out a week before, during which he attacked Moana
by throwing her against a wall.

Despite
the seriousness of the acts committed and the threats made, Mrs. H
decided to return to married life, like many battered women, and to
keep her animals near her.

One
Voice, who was a representative civil party, will be present during
the trial which will take place on June 8 in Lorient to ask for
protection and compensation for the cat Gandja and the dog Moana.

Muriel
Arnal, president of One Voice says: “We are very concerned about
the plight of the victims of this case when they return to their
abuser. Animals being the first victims of violent individuals allows
their torturers to assert their power and to reign terror on the
children and their spouses. Several studies have shown this behaviour
to be true. It is time for France to adopt a real criminal policy for
domestic violence involving pets. This is already the case in the
United States, which allows for temporary or definitive custody
measures of the animals.”