Late remorse in court

Ex-policeman tortured “problem dogs”: fine!

A Styrian police officer in early retirement is said to have overstepped the mark in his work with problem dogs and cruelly mistreated the four-legged friends. He finally showed remorse in court and was sentenced to a fine.

A retired police officer (53) had to stand trial in Graz because of his extremely dubious training methods. The animal energetic is said to have mistreated and tortured problem dogs. On the first day of the trial in mid-January, he denied the allegations but admitted to making mistakes.

On Friday, the trial continued and videos of the accused that he had published on YouTube of his "training sessions" were shown. On display: pure violence, punches, kicks, pushing to the ground and choking with chain collars. 

The methods are said to have been disturbing and irritating for the dog owners who testified as witnesses. Apparently on the advice of his lawyer Florian Höllwarth, the accused then confessed to having overstepped the mark.

Fine for early retiree
Judge Christoph Lichtenberg considered the offense of cruelty to animals to be clearly fulfilled. Due to the mitigating circumstances (remorse, confession), the early retiree got away with a fine of 1440 euros. The verdict is not final.