Le Figaro Marseille
A couple who showed
“culpable negligence”
according to the public prosecutor.
The public prosecutor of Marseille, Pierre-Yves Pezzino, requested this Thursday up to eight months of suspended prison sentence against a couple from Aubagnais who own a
“herd”
of malnourished animals and live in unsanitary conditions.
On April 13, 2023, when a fire broke out at the home of Myriam B. and Patrice M. in Aubagne, on the outskirts of Marseille, the police discovered that the couple owned numerous animals.
In total, nine cats and six dogs kept in cages were recorded.
“Dirty, poorly maintained”
cages
where animals sleep on a bed of dried excrement, with no food or water available to them.
“The dogs are dirty, with the particularity of confined dogs with cessation of exercise,”
reads the president of the court, René Roux, supporting the report of a veterinary expert
.
Both cats and dogs have parasites and skin problems.”
“A dog is discovered dead,”
recalls René Roux.
A Malinois lives sequestered in a transport crate fitted with an electric collar without water or food.
“The conditions of detention correspond to abandonment and neglect
,” believes the public prosecutor.
The couple is in fact being prosecuted for willful abandonment of a domestic animal.
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Already convicted in the past
In detail, Pierre-Yves Pezzino requested a six-month suspended prison sentence for Myriam B. and ten months suspended prison sentence for her companion Patrice M., the couple having already been convicted in the past for related offenses to the animal condition, and in particular animal breeding.
In this case, the investigators also had suspicions of breeding, having found an advertisement selling animals on the Internet, without this ultimately being retained in the procedure.
“The intervention report is edifying,”
insists the lawyer for the SPA, civil party in this case.
The problem can be taken in any direction.
All the dogs are locked in the enclosures.
A Malinois lives on a pile of fresh and dried excrement.”
“We have the impression of being in a film,”
chokes up Me Isabelle Terrin, lawyer for the society for the protection of mistreating and stray animals, also a civil party.
When we see the state of degeneration, of decay, this file has something twilight.”
I strangled a Malinois who attacked me.
It was him or me.
To choose, I chose me.
I strangled him with the choke collar.
It lasted half an hour though.
Patrice M., accused of animal abuse
A situation that the couple attributes to the injury, at that time, of Myriam M., making her unable to take care of the animals.
At the helm, the Aubagnaise, who proclaims her
“love”
of animals, explains that her husband was trying to replace her during her convalescence.
“There was someone who came for the cats because I don’t like picking up poop and I’m allergic to long-haired cats
,” explains Patrice M.
The president questions the couple about the origin of Myriam B.'s injury, caused by the attack of a Malinois.
Suddenly, visibly getting confused and confusing himself with another Malinois, Patrice M. blurted out:
“I strangled a Malinois who had attacked me.
It was him or me.
To choose, I chose me.
I strangled him with the choke collar.
It lasted half an hour anyway
.
The couple's lawyer, for his part, pleads for release, on the grounds that the situation of the animals after the investigators' visit was completely satisfactory, citing in particular a police report to this effect.
The decision was reserved until March 28.