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Puppy dies horrific death
19/06/2007 23:02 - (SA)
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| "Dog killer" Phillip Matthysen tries to duck behind his bakkie to stop Beeld's photographer from taking a picture of him. (Nardus Engelbrecht, Beeld) |
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Danel Blaauw, Beeld
Delmas - A man tried to outrun Beeld's photographer on Tuesday after appearing in court here, charged with cutting off his husky puppy's head with a chain-saw.
Phillip Matthysen, who lives on a small-holding at Sundra, has provisionally been charged with animal abuse following the gruesome incident at his home on February 22 this year.
The police said his four-month-old husky had died painfully, apparently because it had killed Matthysen's macaw parrot.
Alex Serate, 31, Matthysen's gardener, allegedly held the husky down while Matthysen sliced through its head with a petrol-driven chain-saw.
Neighbours who heard the dog howling and whimpering saw what had happened and called the police.
The husky's carcass had already been buried when police officers arrived at the small-holding.
Leon van Vrede of the Sundra police confirmed the incident. "Two witnesses phoned and reported what had happened."
He said it was apparently not the first time that the dog had caught one of its owner's exotic parrots.
Matthysen and Serate were arrested on February 23, a day after the incident, and both were later freed on bail.
Matthysen and his attorney, Dirk Maree, refused to speak to Beeld.
"Thanks very much, but we haven't yet received a charge sheet. We'll comment after getting it," Maree politely said.
Gustav Schult, the prosecutor, said a formal charge sheet would be prepared once the court had received a report by a veterinary surgeon.
The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) expressed its disgust at the incident.
Christine Kuch, national spokesperson of the SPCA, said the way in which the dog was murdered, was very worrying.
"This dog was killed in a horrifying manner. The motive seems to have been revenge," she said.
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