Mishka melts readers' hearts

Dog-abuser's sentence slashed after threats

Can you belief this rot?

Dog-abuser's sentence slashed after threats By Mike Edmond
August 29, 2007 01:00am

A MAN who kicked a puppy almost to death has had his jail sentence halved because of hate mail from animal lovers.

Magistrate Len Brear sentenced Benjamin Gerrey, 27, to six months' jail for his drunken attack on his doberman puppy, Mishka.

But Mr Brear suspended three months of the sentence because Gerrey had been "bullied" by dog lovers.

He said the flow of venomous letters, emails and phone calls to Ringwood Magistrates' Court and Gerrey's family bordered on contempt.

Mr Brear said the hate mail began after coverage of the hearing six weeks ago, at which Gerrey was convicted of two cruelty charges and banned from owning a pet for five years.

"People who write these letters are bullies. More often than not they are sick in the head," he said.

"Such communications are contemptuous of the court. It may border on an attempt to pervert the course of justice.

"The court condemns this sort of communication."

Mishka is still traumatised 18 months after the attack and is kept behind bars at the RSPCA Burwood headquarters.

She is physically fit, but is not psychologically ready yet to put her trust in people.

"She's still very fragile, especially with males, after what happened to her," supervisor Tamara Brown said at the RSPCA shelter yesterday.

"We're trying to socialise her, monitoring her behaviour, but at this stage it's hard to tell when she will be ready for adoption."

Mr Brear rejected a plea from Gerrey's lawyer for a non-custodial sentence.

He said Gerrey, formerly of Kilsyth, showed grossly callous indifference to the suffering of Mishka, who was five months old at the time.

"You perpetrated acts of cruelty to this dog by beating it in a despicable way," Mr Brear told him.

"It indicates a ferocious attitude, triggered by I don't know what.

"Those who perpetrate cruelty are people who are capable of venting their anger on humans."

Senior RSPCA inspector Allie Jalbert said the jailing of Gerrey was a good outcome.

"It sends a very strong message that animal cruelty won't be tolerated by the community," she said.