Nicosia District Court has sentenced a 42 year old woman to two months in prison, suspended for three years, after she pleaded guilty to killing her neighbour’s dog with a kitchen knife, Politis newspaper reported on Tuesday.
It said the incident occurred in February 6, 2017 when the woman visited her neighbour to complain that the dog had bitten her 10 year old son the previous evening, and on other occasions.
When the dog started to bark, the owner took it to the kitchen,the woman followed, grabbed a knife and stabbed the dog twice, which died.
In passing sentence, the court recognised the abhorrence of her actions but could not impose substantial punishment because of the defendant’s personal circumstances — she has an autistic child, is an alcoholic and has other psychological problems.
According to the report from the social services, the woman has two children aged 10 and 12, the youngest of whom is severely autistic. She works occasionally as a cleaning lady and receives state benefits of about €800 a month for the care of the 10 year old.
Mitigating factors in the sentencing was the fact that this was an isolated incident, that the woman was under emotional stress, the impact of alcohol, her clean record and the fact that she is a mother of two underage children.
