Belgian man busted in brutal animalcruelty case

Another canine severely injured

LOWER MERION » A man police say had returned to his native Belgium has been arrested in connection with the killing of one dog and the severe beating of a second one in the Wynnewood home where he was staying in 2015.

Police said Patrick Leyseele, 43, was taken into custody Sunday after returning to the United States, three years after an arrest warrant had been issued for him.

He went before District Judge Karen Eisner Zucker for his arraignment Monday. At the same court date, he waived his preliminary hearing on six counts of cruelty to animals.

According to the criminal complaint, Leyseele was staying with his business partner and her four dogs at her home on Wynnewood in the spring of 2015. On March 16, 2015, the resident took three of the dogs out for a walk, leaving one of them, a Yorkshire terrier/Maltese mix named Harlow.

About 20 minutes later, police said, Leyseele called the homeowner and told her there had been an accident involving Harlow. When she returned, Harlow was bleeding from the mouth. Leyseele is alleged to have told the homeowner that he had accidentally kicked Harlow.

After being taken to the vet, it was determined that Harlow had multiple rib fractures, according to police.

Then on May 29, Leyseele was once again staying in the same home when the homeowner took two of her dogs for a walk, according to police. She left Harlow and a Yorkshire terrier named Jackson at home. The two dogs were placed in a back room, and the homeowner told Leyseele to stay away from them.

When the homeowner returned, Jackson was yelping and he was having convulsions, police said. Leyseele acted as though nothing had happened, and he told her didn’t know what had happened to Jackson.

After being taken to the veterinary hospital at the University of Pennsylvania, Jackson died from the injuries. It was later determined that Jackson had multiple rib fractures that punctured the thoracic cavity, hemorrhaging in the brain and spinal cord and a fracture of the scapula, according to police.

After the homeowner dropped Jackson off at the vet, she took the other three dogs to the vet to be checked, according to police. Harlow had newly broken ribs and spinal trauma.

“It is the opinion of the veterinarian who treated the dogs that absent being hit by a vehicle, the only explanation for these injuries is the dog being kicked, beaten, thrown against a wall, or some other type of cruelty,” Lower Merion Detective Christine Konieczny wrote in the criminal complaint charging Leyseele.

Police say an arrest warrant was issued for Leyseele, but he had already returned to Belgium. Homeland Security was notified, and when Leyseele returned to the United States this past Sunday, Lower Merion police were notified, and he was arrested when his plane landed in Philadelphia.

Following his hearing Monday, Leyseele was released on $5,000 cash bail and is next scheduled to appear for his next court appearance in Norristown in August.