The Criminal Court number 1 of Arrecife has sentenced to three months and one day in prison the two defendants accused of beating King, the dog that was found on the verge of death in the Volcán de la Corona in February 2016. The two defendants have acknowledged the facts during the trial that was held this Thursday and have accepted an agreement with the Prosecutor's Office, whereby they have also been sentenced to one year and one day of disqualification from exercising any profession, trade or business related to animals, as well as from owning them.
It should be remembered that both the Prosecutor's Office and the animal protection association Sara, appearing as a private prosecution, were requesting for the two defendants, Alberto and Sergio Manuel Hernández Santos, one year in prison and three years of disqualification for a crime of animal abuse.
Animalia, an animal protection association from Tenerife, has also tried to appear as a popular accusation in the trial, but its request has been rejected "as untimely", having been presented this same Thursday, as it has been revealed during the oral hearing.
He was rescued in "very critical condition" but managed to recover
The events took place on February 28, 2016 when the two defendants, "acting in prior and common agreement", went to the Volcán de la Corona "in the company of a male dog without a chip and, with the intention of causing physical and unjustified harm to the animal, equipped with a wooden stick, they beat him and gave him successive kicks and blows to conclude by throwing him down the side of the ravine and throwing a stone on top of him".
According to the Prosecutor's Office's indictment, Alberto M. and Sergio M. caused the animal "a deep hemorrhagic open wound on the head, cranial, nasal and anal hemorrhage and respiratory failure, endangering the animal's life, which was diagnosed with severe traumatic brain injury and contusions in the thoracic area".
It was a couple who were walking through the Volcán de la Corona who found the animal after hearing "some howls of authentic pain" being able to see how two men "broke a stick on the dog's head" and collected "stones from the ground" and began "to hit him also with them". When they shouted asking them to stop, the alleged abusers fled in their vehicle, but a year later the Nature Protection Service (Seprona) of the Civil Guard managed to identify them. The animal protection association Sara took care of King after being rescued in a very critical condition and got him a new home after recovering.