The agony a three-year-old Rottweiler suffered when it was beaten with a sjambok, and the extent of the subsequent injuries, could have led to the animal’s heart stopping.
This evidence was given by Dr Johannes Strydom, a vet who testified in the Pretoria district court on Tuesday during the trial of two police officers accused of beating the dog, Freud, to death.
Captain Deon Linde, 37, a senior supervisor, and Inspector Warren Carl Kannemeyer, 38, an instructor, were stationed at the police’s Dog Training School in Pretoria West at the time of the incident in June 2004. They pleaded not guilty to charges of animal cruelty and malicious damage to property.
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Strydom on Tuesday testified that a post-mortem was conducted on the animal. “There were areas of haemorrhaging over the neck and body, typical of an animal that had been traumatised. The injuries to the neck and chest are more likely to be caused by a choke chain, but those on the body were caused by multiple lashes by another instrument,” he said.
| 'I would describe it as cruelty to animals' |
When shown a spike chain, similar to one allegedly used on Freud, Strydom replied: “If such a tool was used on a dog, I would describe it as cruelty to animals.”
Gordon Mphahlane, Freud’s handler during the incident, testified that on June 9 last year the dog was being taught to pick up objects. Freud did not do it properly and Linde allegedly hit him several times with a steel pipe.
On June 15 that year Freud was supposed to pick up a teddy bear. Freud went to the object, but failed to pick it up.
“Kannemeyer hit the dog about 11 times with a sjambok. The dog then picked up the object. But again he did not do it properly. Kannemeyer ordered me to hit the dog again. I did. The inspector then hit the dog until it was unable to move,” Mphahlane testified.
He said there was blood mixed with saliva around the dog’s mouth. Freud died that same day.
| 'Kannemeyer hit the dog about 11 times with a sjambok' |
The witness admitted in court that he had lied in his first statement, saying Kannemeyer told him not to mention the sjambok.
The defence denied this allegation and stated that Kannemeyer hit Freud as he attacked Mphahlane.
But Mphahlane said: “My dog was a very gentle dog. He was not aggressive.”
- This article was originally published on page 3 of Pretoria News on August 03, 2005
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