Burned in the third degree on 80% of the body and blinded ... This is the state in which, on February 19, passers-by had found Iboo, a three-month-old puppy, in a trash can in the 5th arrondissement of Marseille (Bouches-du- Rhône).
Accused of having tortured him, his master, placed in pre-trial detention in view of an already very heavy record, must appear this Thursday, April 29 for "serious abuse and acts of cruelty to a domestic animal".
This man in his forties faces two years in prison and a fine of 30,000 euros.
During a first hearing on April 8, the Marseille Criminal Court was faced with two contradictory psychiatric expertises and referred the case by deciding to request a third.
The latter concluded that there had been an “alteration” in the discernment of the forties, and not its abolition, which allowed their judgment.
In custody, he had admitted the facts in front of the police officers by declaring: “They say that I killed my dog or a dog, but hey… It is true that I hit him… But I threw him.
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Several reports from the neighborhood
Ten associations for the defense of animal causes have formed a civil party.
A petition calling for an "exemplary sanction for the torturer of Iboo" gathered nearly 80,000 signatures and a Leetchi kitty was launched to pay for the care of the animal, found "thirsty, in a state of advanced famine, n ' not even having the strength to bark anymore, the raw skin on almost the entire back, following a burn, and the eye definitively punctured.
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The neighborhood had already reported several times that this male ratter dog, since taken in charge by the SPA (Society for the protection of animals) and a veterinary clinic where he was operated, had been visibly mistreated for several weeks.
Arrested for the first time by the police, the master of Iboo had managed to escape during his psychiatric examination carried out at the Sainte-Marguerite hospital.
He was found two days later thanks to the geolocation of his phone, which led to a legal problem.
Indeed, this technique authorized by the prosecution should only concern offenses or crimes punishable by a prison sentence of more than three years, which is not the case here.
Part of the proceedings were therefore canceled at the hearing on April 8, but the man was kept in detention.
Calls for an "exemplary sentence"
"Justice kicks in to psychiatry, I would not like at the hearing, we are told that he is crazy when he was not for his multiple other convictions: it's just someone a cruel man who found sadistic pleasure in transforming an animal into a thing, to the point of throwing it in a trash can while he was in agony ”, estimates Me Isabelle Terrin, lawyer for the Society for the protection of mistreated animals and stray (Spame). "I hope he will be tried for this act and sentenced to the maximum of what is provided for by law: two years firm. It would also be good for the court to drop his various reprieve and definitively forbid him to own an animal ”.
The case is closely followed by animal activists who had already demonstrated in court during the hearing on April 8. “While there have been other trials for animal abuse, this one is important. We really want the maximum penalty to be applied this time. We can understand an abandonment but, here, it is acts of torture on a puppy that is then thrown in the trash, ”confirms Daniel Combo, local representative of the Animalist Party, who will once again be present in front of the court this Thursday. “We would like justice to send a strong sign with an exemplary sentence and for the legislator to toughen the penalties. "
