Gabriel case: Protest demands an end to animal abuse after dog was tied to car and dragged 1km to death, in Presidente Venceslau | Presidente Prudente and Region

A member of the group and one of the organizers of the action, Rosângela Jacinto Ribeiro highlighted that the act is a “manifestation of indignation and revolt due to the cruelty committed against the dog”.

“We, as animal protectors, are tired of impunity. We want the author’s arrest,” the manicurist told g1.

On the posters held up by the protesters, words such as “justice for Gabriel”, “denounce the mistreatment”, “justice must be done” and “we are their voice, we will not go unpunished”; a way of amplifying the voices of those who fight for the animal cause and are tired of witnessing cases like the one that happened a few days ago.

“We want, at the very least, the person to be punished, because that is not done, taking the animal out of its home, committing such cruelty. The world is very cruel, our laws are not being respected, and this really upsets us as protectors. We take care of animals at the NGO, we have our teams of volunteers, who help us, so we want justice to be done”, highlighted the member.

Maria Antônia de Morais is also a member of the NGO and was the first person to find Gabriel dead. To g1, she said that she arrived at the location through anonymous calls and messages, which reported the case of mistreatment.

At first, it was not possible to identify whether it really was the dog, as only parts of the animal’s carcass remained, due to the brutality with which it was dragged for around 1km along the highway. His color and size, however, indicated that he was Gabriel.

“It was very difficult to see him in that situation. Very revolting. It’s sad that he was killed like that,” she recalled.

The Civil Police concluded and sent the investigation launched to investigate the case to the Court. The person involved was indicted based on article 32 of law no. 9,605, of 1998, which criminalizes animal abuse.

The penalty varies from two to five years in prison in the case of a dog or cat, in addition to a fine and prohibition of custody. However, as the animal died, the penalty is increased by one-sixth to one-third, according to the same legislation.

According to the police report registered by one of the animal’s owners, aged 64, on April 17, the boy was with his son at the neighboring family’s house, located in the Watanabe Housing Complex. According to the owners, residents of the neighborhood already knew that the dog was skittish, which is why they reiterated the warning to the boy, as he was with the child.

At one point, due to an alleged sudden gesture by the boy, the dog, of undefined breed (SRD), advanced towards the child, at which point the father put his arm in front of him and ended up being bitten.

To the police, the investigator said that his son’s face and ear were injured, and that the dog’s owner, Maria Magnalda, aged 65, had bandaged the boy, after offering to take father and son to the hospital. Santa Casa de Misericórdia in the city to receive medical care, “help that was provided by the man”.

The report detailed that, some time later, the person involved took a bag containing fish meat to the neighboring family’s house, however, the Civil and Military Environmental Police suspect that the contents delivered were wild meat, “possibly from alligator ”. To g1, delegate Adalberto Gonini, responsible for the investigations, said that the material is being analyzed by experts.

Around 2:30 am the other day, after drinking alcohol, the person under investigation admitted that he opened the gate of the front house and called the animal, which responded to the acquaintance’s command and went out into the street. At this point, the boy would have tied a rope to the dog’s neck, placed it inside the car, in the front passenger seat, and tied the other end of the rope to the vehicle’s handbrake.

His intention, as the Civil Police told g1, was to take the dog to a site area, but the movement of the General Euclides de Oliveira Figueiredo Highway, the Integration Highway (SP-563), which he was traveling on, caused that the driver “did not notice the moment when the dog jumped out of the car window and was left hanging by the rope”. The suspect only realized that the animal had died when he stopped the vehicle, towards the Cecap neighborhood, and left it there.

“Now, we are waiting to receive the forensic report, referring to the analysis of the meat given by the suspect to the family, and also the testimony of the guardian. After that, we will refer the investigation to the Judiciary”, Gonini emphasized to g1.

Furthermore, Corporal Evandro Sanches Torquato, from the Environmental Military Police Company, informed the g1 report that the person involved had already was fined R$6,000 for mistreating and killing the dog.

The day after the incident, the owner noticed that the animal was no longer in the yard. According to the Environmental Police, she went to a neighbor’s house and, together, they went to the boy’s residence, who claimed to have given the dog to a friend.

When asked about the donation without the owner’s authorization, he confessed that he killed the dog. According to the bulletin, the suspect’s wife stated that she was not at home that day, but that “the husband confessed to the guardian that he had killed the dog”.

According to what he informed the Environmental Police, the boy “took an unknown route and, before leaving, said that he had sought a lawyer, and that, when he was summoned, he would appear at the police station”.

According to the Environmental Police, the animal’s body was found by members of the NGO Adapv.

To g1, delegate Sthefano Rabecini informed that the dog’s owner has heart problems and, after the incident, needed to be hospitalized at Santa Casa de Presidente Venceslau.

“He was like a son to her. Always very well treated. She even gave him food on a fork,” she recalled.

According to the daughter-in-law, who visited the elderly woman while still in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), where she was sent after being admitted to the Emergency Room, the boy, with whom she had always had a friendly relationship, even went to the neighbor’s house “to ask for forgiveness”. However, on one of these occasions, he ended up being expelled by her.

That same day, she reportedly went to a commercial establishment, where she heard people say that “the suspect was bragging about having killed the animal”. After that, she suffered a heart attack and had to be hospitalized.

Still according to her daughter-in-law, the elderly woman was transferred to the Regional Hospital (HR), in Presidente Prudente (SP), where she underwent catheterization.

In a note to g1, the hospital reported that the patient was admitted to the unit’s Emergency Room at 8:24 am on April 23, “where she was promptly attended to by the medical and multidisciplinary team”.

“Due to the stability of his clinical condition, he was discharged from hospital last Friday afternoon (26)”, he attested.

This Monday (29), Josiane Prates spoke again to the g1 report and reported that Maria Magnalda returned to Presidente Prudente to undergo tests, and that “her doctor did not release her to go to the demonstration”.

He also advised the patient to undergo coronary stent insertion and saphenous bypass procedures to improve the functioning of the heart.

In audio messages sent exclusively to g1 by Maria Magnalda’s daughter-in-law, while she was still in the hospital, the elderly woman recalled the day she found out about the death of her four-legged companion.

“I thought he [suspeito] was going to release Gabriel somewhere. So much so that, in the morning, when I went to his house to find out about his and the boy’s hand, I asked him where the dog was, that’s when he sent an audio to a friend, saying that he had left the dog at his house. . So I said: ‘for God’s sake, let’s go’, and he replied: ‘no, leave him there’. I insisted and said I would put fuel in his car to go get it. […]. When he realized that the business was going to ‘stink’ for him, he started asking for my forgiveness and crying.”

For her, the worst thing was not the death of the dog, because, “sooner or later, he was going to die”, but rather the way in which the person being investigated, a family friend, did it.

“The barbarity he did cannot be forgiven,” he concluded.

g1 contacted the defendant’s defense, represented by lawyer Carlos Alberto Toro, but, until the last update of this report, had not received a response.