INHUMAN ACT

Gisborne Times, Volume LXVIII, Issue 10742, 13 November 1928, Page 2

INHUMAN ACT

IWO BOYS TORTURE MALTESE TERRIER.

BATTERED LITTLE ANIMAL OYER HEAD.

THEN TIED IT TO FENCE AND BASHED IT TO DEATH.

How two boys, tortured a Maltese poodle, first by attempting to drown u, then thrashing it over the head with sticks, and finally tying the animal by its tail to a fence and bashing it over the head until it died, was related in the Child Welfare Court to Dir E. C. Levvey, S.M., yesterday. Tlie lads, aged 8. and 11 years respectively, were charged with committing mischief by killing the dog, w hich was valued at £2O and belonged to a lady at. Pat-utahi.

Senr.-Sergt. McLean _ coiipnented strongly upon the morbidity vof. the boys’ minds as reflected by tlieir treatment of the dog. The. .animal was used for breeding purposes, and had been left at home by the owner whilst she was at the show. The elder lad took the dog to the home of the younger boy and wanted to leave the animal there as he did not want it. They then did a most cruel tiling. First they tried to drown the dog, but failing in that they hit it oil the head with sticks until the blood oozed from its nostrils. Even then they did not kill it, and so they tied it by its tail to a fence and bashed it on the head with sticks until it died. There were a number of hoys and girls watching the incident. “The. method- these boys adopted was most outrageous,” said the Senior-Sergeant. ‘‘Mob psychology,” was the man;‘.e.r in which Mr J. S. Wauchop desevibed the action of the two boys. The lads were usually well-behaved, said counsel, who supported his statement by a certificate from the headmaster as to their satisfactory conduct. A number of children had been skylarking with the dogs and then the boys lost their heads, doing what they would 11'0't have done in tlieir ordinary senses. The parents had already dealt with the boys. The Magistrate remarked that the offence was too callously brutal to allow that to stand. To take a little dog and torture it—well, one could not say enough about it. He sevpre■y admonished the lads and placed them under the control of the Child Welfare Officer for six months.