The trial for a Delta, B.C., man charged with causing unnecessary pain and suffering and killing, wounding or maiming an animal began in Vancouver Provincial Court Oct. 7.
Randeep Singh Ghataura has pleaded not guilty in connection with a March 25, 2020 situation where a woman's pet chihuahua had to be euthanized.
Crown prosecutor Jim Cryder told Judge Ellen Gordon Ghataura had been in a relationship with the dog’s owner but that relationship was coming to an end.
Cryder said Ghataura went to the woman’s Vancouver home to drop off some things and found she was not home. However, he went in.
Gordon heard Ghataura later called the woman and said the dog was acting oddly.
She went home. There, she found the nine-pound dog hunched over, sitting in its own waste.
Cryder said the dog’s eyes appeared red so the woman wiped them and blood came off on her fingers.
She immediately took the animal to a vet. The doctor told the woman her pet was in significant medical distress. The animal was euthanized.
She later reported the incident to police, who decided initially not to report the case to Crown for charges.
Later on, the woman was on a call with Ghataura in which he allegedly said he had hit the dog with a shoe, Cryder said.
She recorded the call on her phone and took it to police.
On March 18, 2022, police decided to send a report to the Crown. With assistance from the Delta Police Department, Ghataura was arrested.
Cryder said Ghataura spontaneously told police “he hit the dog.”
He said a vet said the animal had suffered blunt force trauma.
The prosecutor said the case relies on the two admissions to the dog’s owner and to police.
