Man beat 10-week-old puppy to death, say prosecutors
A Queens dog owner inflicted horrific beatings on his Boston terrier puppy before the battered pet died of her injuries, prosecutors said Tuesday.
Paul Verite faces multiple animal cruelty and abuse charges for his alleged attacks on his 10-week-old dog Espy between September and November, when the poor pooch died. A necropsy showed 21 of her 26 ribs were fractured, and authorities reported signs of a traumatic head injury.
“These injuries caused Espy to experience excruciating pain before her death,” Queens prosecutors said Tuesday.
The puppy was so severely injured that she could neither walk nor stand before her death, Queens prosecutors said, with Espy ultimately killed by a seizure brought on by the head wound.
“To see a trusting, defenseless creature brutalized the way this puppy was over the course of her short, tortured life makes you heartsick,” said Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz. “The defendant will be held to account for the violence he is alleged to have inflicted upon this poor animal.”
In the fall, Verite, 49, repeatedly took his puppy to both Austin Veterinary Care and Blue Pearl Animal Hospital for treatment of a range of injuries including a torn toenail, bruising to his head and a suspected traumatic brain injury. Verite was unable to explain to veterinarians how the dog suffered such extreme injuries, prosecutors said.
He denies the charges.
“The hospital is lying,” Verite told the Daily News at his Forest Hills home Tuesday. “I’m being falsely accused.”
During the dog’s final visit, Espy was rushed from Austin Veterinary Care to Blue Pearl Animal Hospital in critical condition. Told that specialists were unsure surgery would be successful, Verite opted to have Espy euthanized.
He said it was his first time having a dog.
“My father died of lung cancer in April, so I got the dog as an emotional support animal,” he told The News. “Dog bumped his head about a month and a half ago. I was holding him, and he fell.”
A necropsy determined Espy had been routinely beaten and suffered from “multiple blunt-force injuries prior to her death,” investigators noted. Over half of her ribs were fractured in more than one place and were in various stages of healing.
The extent of the injuries was not clear until after the necropsy was performed.
“He did not want that necropsy done,” a veterinary staffer told The News. “He wanted her cremated.”
Workers said they hadn’t known how bad the situation was.
“She would come and be all happy,” one worker said. “She was kissing us. He would put her up on the counter. She had little jackets and sweaters. She was so cute.
“It messed me up,” the employee continued. “It was tough. Everyone [at the veterinary clinic] was off for a few days after.”
Staffers, still fearful of the dog’s owner, declined to be identified. They remembered Espy’s last visit.
“It makes me want to cry. Her little face,” one staffer said. “She was lateral on the table. We’re all panicking, and her tail was still wagging. We’re trying to oxygenate her, and she was so scared.”
Investigators arrested Verite on Feb. 6. He was given a desk appearance ticket and returned to court on Monday, when he was criminally charged. He was released without bail and is due back in court in April.
He faces up to two years in prison if convicted.