CONVICTED: Was justice served?
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Case #17803 Rating: 2.0 out of 5
Kitten kicked to death
Waipawa, HB (NZ)Incident Date: Monday, May 24, 2010
Disposition: Convicted
Defendant/Suspect: Desy Junior Paul
A man who kicked a kitten at least three times after it was seen "flying" over his front fence, told police it had died before they arrived and he had buried it in his garden, the Dunedin District Court heard yesterday.
Desy Junior Paul, also charged under the surnames Paul-Hunia and Hunia-Paul (19), was for sentence having admitted an Animal Welfare Act charge of ill-treating an animal, at Waipawa on May 24 last year, and a related charge of resisting a constable; and four other charges including a Crimes Act assault on his 25-year-old partner, Alisha Josephine Renata, at Dunedin on November 23.
Imposing two months' jail on the "ill-treating" offence, Judge Paul Kellar told Paul "the court must denounce this cruel conduct and deter you from ever offending in this way again".
Bringing Paul's jail term to three months was a cumulative one-month sentence for the Crimes Act assault.
The cruelty incident happened at Paul's then home, mid-morning.
A member of the public saw a kitten come "flying" over the front fence and land on its side in the middle of the road.
Paul walked out on to the road and began kicking the kitten back towards his property.
He kicked it at least three times before disappearing from view.
Spoken to, he denied throwing the kitten on to the road. He initially agreed he had kicked the kitten off the road but later said he had picked up the kitten by its tail. It had died before police arrived and he had buried it in the garden.
The assault on his partner was during an argument. When the victim turned away, Paul hit the left side of her face. His hand was in a cast and he had a metal splint on the inside of two fingers.
The metal splint came into contact with the victim's temple, causing the splint to bend backwards.
The victim had a sore temple as a result of the assault.
• On the charge of resisting a constable, and convictions for stealing a $269 cellphone from a Home Direct shopping truck, at Flaxmere on October 23; and driving while his licence was suspended, and operating a vehicle so it had a sustained loss of traction, on High St, Dunedin, on December 22, Paul received one-month jail terms, concurrent with the overall sentence.
Paul was also disqualified from driving for nine months, and he is to pay $269 reparation.
Standard conditions for release from jail are to run for six months past the sentence end date. References |
