(HK) PAYING DEARLY

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Hong Kong Standard

Top News|headline|ByNickkita Lau and Patsy Moy 2008-04-22

 

 

 

PAYING DEARLY

 

 

Man jailed six months for clubbing rare deer to death

 

A man who bludgeoned a pregnant and protected deer to death with a spade

and a baton was jailed for six months yesterday the heaviest sentence

handed down for animal cruelty in Hong Kong.

 

The jail term was welcomed by animal rights campaigners, who called for

even tougher action against the perpetrators of violence against animals

in the wake of a series of sickening attacks in recent months.

 

Passing sentence, Tsuen Wan Magistrate John Glass said he could have

given Iu Chi-yung, 46, a community service order or put him on

probation, but prison was appropriate because he showed no sympathy for

the animal or remorse for the attack.

 

Technician Ius attack on the barking deer was witnessed by a woman

passerby who said she could hear the animal scream as it was bashed with

a spade last New Years Eve in Pui O on Lantau Island.

 

The barking deer is one of the worlds oldest species of deer and is

protected in Hong Kong according to the Agriculture, Conservation and

Fisheries Department. Animal welfare groups said the sentence would send

a strong message that the community has zero-tolerance for cruelty to

animals.

 

Glass said Iu only began to show remorse after he was convicted, adding

there was a need to reflect the seriousness of the offense of animal

cruelty, which had been widely discussed in the Legislative Council and

the community.

 

The magistrate said Iu was indifferent to the pain suffered by the deer,

which had not caused any nuisance to the defendant or his family prior

to the attack.

 

Through his lawyer, Iu told the magistrate he was drunk at the time but

was an otherwise responsible father who worked as a volunteer after work.

 

Letters asking for leniency were also presented on Ius behalf from his

daughter and a district councillor.

 

Glass accepted that Ius record was clear and reduced the original jail

term from eight to six months.

 

The attack was witnessed by Cheung Mei-ling, who saw Iu and another man

whose whereabouts are unknown use a spade and a baton to beat the deer

unconscious then try to take it back to Ius house.

 

Cheung heard the deer screaming and tried to stop the men before calling

police, the court was told. The pregnant 19kg animal had open wounds on

its right chin and left hip and suffered internal bleeding.

 

This sends a strong message to the public that we should respect life

and protect the welfare of wild animals equally with our pets, a

spokesman for the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said.

 

Vicky Chu Po-shan, a committee member of animal rights advocacy group

Bag Me Home, said the jail sentence was appropriate but it should have

been heavier.

 

It is terrible to do such a thing to an innocent life, Chu said. I hope

other judges will take reference from this precedent when they rule on

other cruelty to animal cases.

 

Also yesterday, a 22-year-old man was sentenced to 100 hours community

service and fined HK$13,000 at Eastern Magistrates Courts for leaving

seven caged cats and dogs in the rain on the roof of a building in Shau

Kei Wan.

 

Principal magistrate Garry Tallentire said the penalty was exceptional

because Shu Ngai-fung was too occupied and did not purposely harm the

animals.

 

In 2006, the Legislative Council increased the maximum penalty for

cruelty to animals from a fine of HK$5,000 and six months jail to a fine

of HK$200,000 and three years imprisonment. In December that year, four

men were the first to be jailed in Hong Kong for butchering two dogs for

food.

 

Tuen Mun magistrate Kwok Wai- kin sent them to prison for 30 days, but

the term was halved to two weeks on appeal.

 

In October last year, Principal Magistrate Ernest Lin Kam-hung sent

48-year-old cook Chan Wah-chiu to jail for 21 days and fined him

HK$5,000 for hurling a kitten to the ground three times before it died.

 

patsy.moy

 

nickkita.lau