On October 25, the gendarmes were called to Fontoy by an animal protection association. A nauseating odor emanates from an apartment located on the ground floor of this small building. The window was left open. Flies escape from it.
When they enter the house, the soldiers discover a scene of horror. Feces cover the floor. Trash is piling up in the kitchen. In the living room, the mess is total. The worst is yet to come: in one room, a closed cage contains the corpse of a putrefied animal. It is a dog, lying on its left side, in a very advanced state of decomposition. In a room, the gendarmes spot a second dog. He too is like “mummified”. The investigators find neither water nor food.
“They were always fed”
The autopsy reveals that the death dates back several weeks: between 25 days and 4 months. They are two young dogs: one of the Molossian type, the other is a Dogo Argentino. They would have died of hunger and thirst.
Monday evening, the owner appeared before the court of Thionville. He is prosecuted for voluntary abandonment of a domestic animal, voluntary attack on the life of an animal and not handing over to the service of rendering of the corpses.
Well-trimmed beard, close-cropped hair topped with a small bun and tattooed on one hand, the 38-year-old man walks slowly to the helm. He says he never wanted his dogs dead. “I have my conscience for me. I am not responsible, I simply lost my footing,” he explains. According to him, their death was due to poisoning. The consequence of an obscure neighborhood dispute.
In the room, the members of five animal protection associations listen to him. Some are sobbing. The five organizations are civil parties.
Defense pleads partial acquittal
For months, the respondent deliberately hid the bodies. “They would still be there if no one had found them,” he agrees.
The defendant, nine mentions in the record for minor offenses, is described as someone marginal, violent and insulting by his neighbors. “I have a strong character,” he admits.
His counsel pleads for partial acquittal: “A criminal decision is not a political decision. The law should not be subjected to popular vindictiveness. In this case, there is no certainty about food deprivation. There is no demonstration that determines abandonment. »
The representative of the public prosecutor’s office is convinced of this. He requires a six-month suspended prison sentence and a ban on keeping an animal.
Judgment will be delivered on February 16.
