'Bone-chilling' scene greets inspectors after man allegedly stabs and decapitates dog

A 19-year-old man was expected to appear in the Brakpan Magistrate’s Court on Friday after he allegedly stabbed his family’s dog to death.

Captain Pearl van Staad said the man was out on R1,000 bail.

Brakpan SPCA general manger Shiven Bodasing said they received a call on January 29 that a man had tortured and mutilated a family dog.

Bodasing and Inspector Siphiwe Sibeko attended the scene and made a “bone-chilling” discovery.

He said they were informed by the 19-year-old’s brother that the man had stabbed their small-breed family dog to death and then decapitated it.

The animal’s screams alerted the family, which went outside to investigate.

The 19-year-old got on to the roof of the house and threw the dog from it. The animal landed in the yard, next to two other family dogs.

The man fled the scene after being confronted by his brother.

He was found hiding in the back of a bakkie at his mother’s house a few streets away.

The man was arrested in terms of the Animal Protection Act no 71 of 1962. He was taken to the Brakpan police station, where he was charged with five counts of animal cruelty.

“Animal cruelty is a crime and will be treated as such. We cannot allow such a person to live amongst our community. What if that had been a child?

“I am utterly disgusted at the conduct of the suspect. I fail to understand how the mutilation and torture of an innocent and vulnerable animal could possibly be amusing or excusable,” Bodasing said.