No jail time for local man who kicked dog, causing death
Posted March 20, 2014 6:47 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
MAPLE RIDGE (NEWS1130) – A Maple Ridge man won’t spend any time in jail after a dog he was looking after died after he kicked it.
Jeffrey David Symons has received a three-month conditional sentence after admitting to killing his friend’s 13-year-old Nova Scotia duck tolling retriever.
Symons kicked the dog in the side before taking it to the vet and claiming it had fallen down the stairs. He later admitted the truth to investigators.
Lorie Chortyk with the SPCA says even though he wont see any jail time, the punishment is still severe.
“In this case, it was a criminal code conviction. That does carry a lot of weight on someone’s records,” she explains.
“While we always want to see jail time [or] large fines, we are pleased, at least, it was taken seriously,” she adds.
Chortyk calls the dog’s death a tragedy.
“This is just a terrible case where a dog was left in the care of a friend, who, it turns out, was very physically abusive to the dog and caused her death. It’s so horrible to see cases like this,” she says.
Chortyk says animal cruelty is all too common in BC; the SPCA investigating 7,000 cases each year, many involving the death of an animal.
