United Kingdom: Jordan Thomasson found not guilty of animal cruelty, despite stabbing his dog in the head

UNITED KINGDOM -- A dog owner who hit his pet over the head with a 2.5ft long samurai sword after the dog bit him has been found not guilty of causing unnecessary suffering to an animal.

Jordan Thomasson struck the five-year-old German Shepherd called Kaiser ‘two or three times’ with the weapon outside his home in Little Hulton after the dog attacked him.

He said the dog had 'gone for' a girl at his house and when he tried to get outside the home he lived with his mother on Highgate Lane, the dog followed him.

Mr Thomasson, 24, now of Alexander Road, Walkden , said: “I was seeing this girl and she had stayed over. We were messing about in the front room. The dog went for the girl and was jumping up to bite her.”

He said he grabbed the dog but it then latched onto his buttock.

[where's the photo/proof of this alleged wound?]

Mr Thomasson, who was formerly in the Army, said: “I was scared.”

He then picked up a samurai sword from near the front door, that belonged to his mum’s partner, and opened the door to let the girl and himself out - but the dog chased him.

He said: “I hit him two or three times, he was attacking me.”

In police interview he denied that the dog had bitten him but said in court that was because he was worried the dog would be put down.

He had the dog since it was a puppy and said it was like his ‘best mate’.

Mr Thomasson’s friend, Matthew Howell, who was in a car outside the house when it happened also gave evidence and described the dog as 'like something out of a film' as it was barking loudly and 'baring teeth' ready to pounce.

RSPCA officers said the two inch wound had 'gone through the skin and muscle and fractured the dog’s sinews'.

A photograph was shown in court of the dog's wound.

Mr Thomasson pleaded guilty an earlier hearing to being in possession of an offensive weapon, but denied the charge of causing suffering to an animal.

Mitigating, Ellie Akhgar, said he had not told the truth initially because he was worried the dog would be put down.

A neighbor also gave evidence stating he had seen the man hit the dog up to eight times, from around 40 ft away. He said he hit the dog a number of times with considerable force, and the dog was just stood at his side [not acting aggressive at all].

Chair of the bench, Dr Lorraine Lighton, said Mr Howell would have seen more clearly what happened and said photographs of the dog’s injury were more consistent with being struck two or three times.

He was found not guilty of causing unnecessary suffering to an animal, but will be sentenced at a later date for being in possession of an offensive weapon.

(Manchester Evening News - Sept 18, 2016)

Douglas Joseph Hagler, who stabbed his Husky 11 times and broke three of her ribs, gets just 100 days in jail

NORTH CAROLINA -- A North Carolina man accused by police of stabbing his Siberian husky with a sword has been sentenced to 100 days in jail after entering a plea.

Local media outlets report on Friday that Douglas Joseph Hagler entered an Alford plea, allowing a defendant to plead guilty, while maintaining his or her innocence, because there is sufficient evidence to find him or her guilty.

Wake County Assistant District Attorney Matt Lively said the dog, named Koda, had 11 stab wounds and three broken ribs. 

Authorities said the dog was tied to a tree when it was stabbed.

Hagler’s attorney said the dog bit his client’s roommate.

A petition was started to prosecute Hagler at the fullest extent of the law. The petition gathered 20,000 signatures and was presented to the Wake County District Attorney’s office.

Clearly the petition didn't mean anything to the DA's office.

(WFLA - Dec 5, 2015)

Man who hacked cat to death and kept its eyeball in a jar as a souvenir gets sent to boot camp instead of prison

NEVADA -- A 21-year-old Elko man who pleaded guilty to attempted animal mutilation after he admitted hacking a cat to death with a sword has been ordered to spend six months at a boot camp in southern Nevada.

Police say Rory White was keeping one of the cat’s eyes in a jar at his home when they arrested him for killing the orange-and-white feline in July 2012.

Despite Elko County District Judge Al Kacin describing it as an “ugly,” “awful” case, he obviously didn't think it was too horrific because, according to the Elko Daily Free Press, he agreed to defer sentencing after prosecutors concurred with White’s lawyer’s suggestion Monday that he be sent to the Department of Corrections camp in Indian Springs.

Public defender Brian Green says White “made some mistakes,” but is a good candidate for the rehabilitation program.

Let's just hope that karma catches up with him while he's there. Maybe he'll lose his eyeball in an accident...

(Nevada Appeal - Oct 1, 2014)

Earlier:

• Man accused of torturing, killing cat arrested

Nevada: Rory White, 21, and Tyler Coleman, 22, accused of torturing, killing cat - cutting out its eyes

NEVADA -- A Spring Creek man who allegedly decapitated a cat and collected its eyeball in July 2012 was arrested Thursday and charged with an animal cruelty-related felony.

Rory White, 21, told police he killed an orange cat by chopping at it with a dull sword “out of boredom,” according to an unsworn declaration by police filed in Elko Justice Court.

Tyler Coleman, 22, was allegedly with White at the time of the slaying.

Coleman told police a cat approached him and White as they were walking home, according to court documents. White went inside to retrieve a sword. Then the two went into “the desert,” where Coleman stomped down on the cat’s tail so it couldn’t escape, and White chopped at it with the sword.

White told police he cut the cat’s eyes out and he kept one in a bottle in his bedroom, which after gaining access to his home, an officer photographed.

Animal control and police asked for the sword, which the men surrendered. It was sent to the Veterinary Genetics Laboratory at the School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California at Davis.

According to court documents, it was found positive for feline DNA.

White was charged with torturing, injuring or unjustifiable maiming, mutilating or killing an animal, which is a category D felony and punishable by up to four years in prison. In the alternatives, he is charged with principal to torturing and killing an animal, and conspiracy to torture and kill an animal.

A preliminary hearing had not been scheduled as of Friday, according to court documents.

Coleman is wanted on a warrant for the same charges.

Dennis Rader tortured and killed animals

Child Killer: Ian Brady boasted that
he killed his first cat aged just ten.
As a child, he tortured and killed
animals, stoning dogs and cutting the
heads off rabbits. He burnt a cat alive.
He later killed five children.

In November, White was involved in an unrelated macabre ordeal when he shot an arrow into a man’s face with a compound bow near a Humboldt River homeless camp.

The victim, Braden Licko, survived the wound after receiving treatment in a critical care unit. No arrests were made in that case nor charges filed.

Police believed that Licko and another man, Justin Peacock, had attacked White and his father, Robert, over a money dispute.

(Elko Daily Free Press - Mar 22, 2014)

Illinois: Illegal alien Albino Periz-Garduno, 33, arrested in horrific animal cruelty case

ILLINOIS -- On Friday, police in Granite City, Illinois arrested Albino Periz-Garduno, 33, and charged him with aggravated animal cruelty after allegedly stabbing a cat with a samurai sword.

When police arrived at the home of Periz-Garduno, they found a cat in severe pain from a large gash, apparently from a sword. The cat could not be saved and was euthanized.

According to Assistant Police Chief Jeff Connor, the illegal alien had been drinking. Someone inside the residence left when the cat was stabbed and called police.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement has placed a hold on Periz-Garduno.

(National Examiner - Oct 13, 2010)