On Friday, June 19, the court in Saint-Martin sentenced a man in his fifties to six months' imprisonment with a suspended sentence for unauthorized possession of a firearm and for "serious abuse and acts of cruelty" on two dogs belonging to his neighbors, who are also members of his family.
The events took place in May in Colombier, on family land shared by several relatives. According to the defendant, as he was about to drop his three-year-old daughter off at his mother's house, one of his cousin's pit bulls jumped on them "to bite them." A few hours later, back at his house, he grabbed a shotgun and shot the dog, which was tied up in the garden. The animal was killed instantly. Alerted by the gunshot, a second dog came out of the house. The defendant then shot it in the legs, wounding it. The animal eventually received medical treatment.
The case stems from a context of family tensions related to land ownership. Although each person owns their own plot, no fence separates the properties. In court, the dog owners maintained that the animals were not aggressive, a version disputed by the defendant. He claims to have suffered from the dogs' presence for several years and recounts several attacks, including a bite suffered by his son when he was a child. A father of four, he explains that he has constantly feared for their safety, especially that of his youngest daughter.
Reminder of the reglementation
The prosecutor's office emphasized the "profound ignorance and irresponsibility" of the dog owners regarding the regulations applicable to this "category 1" breed, considered potentially dangerous. The owners reportedly failed to register their animals with the relevant authorities, a mandatory step for anyone owning this type of dog.
After reiterating these obligations, the prosecution condemned the cruelty of the acts and the violence of the defendant's reaction, who had no prior criminal record, arguing that other legal avenues were available. The prosecution requested a six-month suspended sentence and a five-year ban on possessing firearms, recommendations which were followed by the court. _DR
