Man who bound dog with electrical tape gets 2-year sentence
Michael Hill is remorseful and wanted the sentence imposed, said his lawyer
The Amherstburg, Ont., man accused of binding a dog's snout, neck and legs with electrical tape and leaving it behind a shopping centre, has pleaded guilty to an animal-cruelty charge and will serve two years behind bars.
Hill was charged with willfully causing unnecessary pain/suffering or injury to an animal or bird. He pleaded guilty Monday.
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Justice Micheline Rawlins ordered Hill to give a blood sample to the DNA databank.
Hill's lawyer Ahmad Ammar said his "remorseful" client admitted to abusing the dog.
"Michael confessed right from the very beginning," Ammar said outside the courthouse. "It's something he wanted to get behind him. He recognized that he did something that he shouldn't have done."
More than a dozen animal rights activists, who have protested outside the courthouse during Hill's many appearances in recent weeks, were in the courtroom Monday. One man swore at Hill as he walked out of the prisoner's box.
Other people were more civil, including Dean Cresswell, the man who discovered the dog that has been renamed Justice.
"We can't ask for anything more," Cresswell said, recognizing the punishment will deter others from abusing animals. "I credit the gentleman for making a plea."
Justice the dog was discovered by Cresswell, who was walking his own two dogs near the Canadian Tire on Walker Road on Dec. 17.
Hill was arrested in late December and has been in jail ever since, after having been denied bail earlier this year.
Justice remains in the care of the Windsor-Essex Humane Society. He was neutered last week and "came through the surgery, like a trooper," the society said in a Facebook post.
Previous to being neutered, Justice also underwent a checkup on his heart at Oakland Veterinary Referral Services in Bloomfield Hills, Mich.
"The news was good, as it appears that his heartworm infection is less severe than originally thought, and likely hasn't caused very much damage to his heart, yet! This means that treatment should prevent future heart damage, and also hopefully that it will be safer for him than if there was already damage," the Windsor-Essex Humane Society said in another Facebook post. "Heartworm treatment is still a dangerous process to go through for any dog, but this was the best answer we could have hoped for regarding his condition!"