JUSTICE FOR PET
STAB CASE DRAGS ON:
JASMINE Laird just wants justice for her bull terrier pup that was stabbed to death.
The man accused is her expartner Matthew David Page, who bolted from the Cairns courthouse yesterday morning in an attempt to avoid a group of protesters and awaiting media.
Ms Laird was among the group, who held signs condemning animal cruelty, and said her puppy’s death had affected her whole family.
“We should be here to stand up for this poor little animal,” she said. “I just want justice, justice for my dog.
“This has been a very devastating thing for me and my children.”
Six-month-old Aussie had joined the family on Australia Day. “Hence the name Aussie,” she said.
When Ms Laird arrived home on Anzac Day this year, she said there was blood on the floor and splattered on the walls and door.
“I didn’t get to see my puppy, I just got to see the bloodstains,” she said.
Ms Laird said she received a call from Southside Veterinary Surgery that her dog had been stabbed to death.
“They wanted to know what happened,” she said.
Mr Page, 42, who had been charged with animal cruelty over the matter, was meant to be sentenced in the Cairns Magistrates Court yesterday but the case was adjourned.
Defence solicitor Richard Whitla, O’Reilly Stevens Lawyers, requested the adjournment as elements of the case needed further discussions.
The court was told that unless certain prosecution concessions were made the matter may need to go to a contested facts hearing.
The case was adjourned until later this month.
“It just keeps drawing out,” Ms Laird said. “I just want closure … it’s been very traumatic for my children.
“They miss our dog. They loved him.”
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