Suspended sentence

Puppy died because master didn’t care for it

The trial was about one such Bichon Maltese.(Bild: Tierheim Hallein (SYMBOLBILD))

A dog and a cat died in the home of a Romanian unskilled worker (35). In court, he claimed to be unaware of the circumstances of the death. As he left the eight-week-old puppy alone for ten hours a day, he was convicted of cruelty to animals. 

The relationship between the defendant and his ex only lasted a short time. After the separation in September 2024, a dog and a cat remained with the unskilled worker, who had four previous convictions. After just a few days, both animals were dead. That's why the Romanian (35) had to explain himself. "Yes, the cat was hers. The dog was mine," he explained to the judge at the trial on Tuesday in the regional court. It was an eight-week-old Bichon Maltese, a puppy. He says: "The dog died because it wasn't vaccinated." He didn't go to the vet.

Defendant: "Was at work" 
He could not explain how the four-legged friend died: "I was at work. When I came back, he was dead." He had left the puppy alone for ten hours. And the cat? It had died three or four days earlier. Apparently it had got caught in a tilted window and twisted its neck, it was said. The man was at work again.

However, he denies an act of revenge because of the ex. The Romanian was given three months' conditional imprisonment for cruelty to animals as an additional sentence to an assault, not legally binding.