Puppy killer dies in accident
2007-08-14 07:25
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Francois du Plessis
Johannesburg - The man who caused a countrywide uproar after using a chainsaw to cruelly behead his husky puppy earlier this year, died in a car accident over the weekend.
Phillip Matthysen, 31, rolled his vehicle in the early hours of Sunday morning and died on the scene.
Sergeant Marinda Scholtz said Matthysen was apparently en route to his smallholding in Sundra, Mpumalanga, when his black Toyota Land Cruiser overturned and he was thrown out of the vehicle.
The accident occurred in the early hours of Sunday on the R50 route to Delmas, near Rietfontein.
Stoltz told Beeld that workers on nearby farms heard a loud noise at about 04:00 that morning, but they were too afraid to investigate.
No witnesses
"A passing vehicle spotted the wreck at 07:00 and police were then summoned to the accident," Stoltz said on Monday.
She said Matthysen was already dead when the police and paramedics got to the scene.
"There were no witnesses. We're not sure if a tyre burst or if the deceased lost control of the vehicle, but he was thrown out of the car when it rolled a few times," Stoltz said.
Prince Mbiza of the Mpumalanga emergency services was one of the first paramedics at the scene.
He said on Monday that Matthysen had clearly died as a result of "massive head injuries".
"The accident must have happened between three and four hours before we got to the scene," Mbiza said.
According to him it was difficult to say if Matthysen had died instantly, or only later.
His body was taken to Bronkhorstspruit mortuary where a post-mortem will be held to determine the exact cause of death.
Matthysen caused an uproar in June when Beeld reported that he'd used a chainsaw to behead his still-living Siberian husky.
When he was sentenced in July for animal abuse, the marketing consultant said in an affidavit that he had used a petrol-driven chainsaw to saw the dog's head off "during a fit of fury".
This was after the four-month-old dog had chewed through the electrical cable of his security gate and killed an exotic macaw parrot.
Magistrate C E Moldenhauer sentenced Matthysen on July 24, to 12 months in jail or a fine of R10 000.
The full sentence was suspended conditionally for five years.
In terms of the sentence, the deceased also had to pay a fine of R5 000 to the Springs branch of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals(SPCA).
- Beeld