A man was placed on one-year probation and given two-year suspended jailterm after he was found guilty by the court of cruelty against animals for shooting to death a dog.
The defendant, 33-year old Mr Vicha Boonluelak, shot several times a female dog in front of the Imperial department store at Lat Phrao as the beast was about to bite him. The incident took place on January 13, last year.
He was eventually arrested by the police after the owner of the dog, Ms Panita Sunthornrat, lodged a complaint with the police. He was charged with illegal possession of firearms, illegally carrying firearms and cruelty against animals.
The court found the defendant guilty of the three charges and sentenced him to 20 months jailterm and a fine of 11,000 baht and sentenced him to 14 months in prison and 7,500 baht in fine.
But since the defendant has never committed any criminal offences before, the court decided to suspend the jailterm for two years and put him in one-year probation. He was required to meet with parole officials four times within a year and to conduct community services for 12 hours.
After the verdict, the defendant said he would not appeal against the verdict. He said he shot the dog out of a fit of anger because he had been bitten by the dogs several times before.
VIDEO: Man given 2-year suspended jailterm for killing a dog - Thai PBS English News