Mackay Magistrates Court:
Citizens worldwide are sickened by the drawn-out torture of Peanut, the 7-month fox
terrier abducted from Danielle and Karen Neilson's Moranbah home in Queensland on
October 20, 2008.
I understand Trent William Cunniffe, 24, has been sent to Mackay Base Hospital's
psychiatric ward and won't face charges until deemed
mentally stable. If his case is assigned to the Mental Health Court, it could be
deferred for as long as a year.
His accomplice Jonathon Connor Blake, 21, also undergoes psychiatric evaluation at
Capricornia Correctional Centre in Rockhampton. I thank
officials for swiftly remanding these men in custody. Yet I hope both are ordered to
enter pleas, without delay, to charges of animal cruelty,
illegally stealing and killing an animal, property damage, and possession of
marijuana.
I urge rigorous prosecution. Please seek the maximum penalty allowed under
Queensland's Animal Care and Protection Act, including a
$75,000 fine and two years' incarceration.
As you know, RSPCA officers consider Peanut's prolonged mutilation to be among the
most grisly incidents in Australian history. Even police
were repelled when they viewed videophone images of the ordeal. Apparently, the puppy
wails as the men slash him with garden shears and a
pocketknife — severing his nose, a front leg, rear leg and finally, his head. During
the video's last segment, Cunniffe and Blake seem to
display the amputated body parts.
Cunniffe and Blake exhibit serious indicators for recurring violence. Randall
Lockwood — an ASPCA animal behaviorist who consults
with cruelty investigators, law enforcers and mental health professionals — describes
violence against non-threatening creatures as a
precursor to assaulting children, the elderly or disabled.
Cunniffe and Blake's elongated assault let them observe Peanut's agony and suggests
they find intimate violence (stabbing and mangling,
rather than remote violence such as shooting) pleasurable. Their documentation of the
dog in unbearable pain signifies a desire to re-live the
"thrill." Mutilation is almost always linked with an unrealistic sense of power.
Men prosecuted for animal cruelty are five times as likely to be arrested for other
violent crimes, according to Utah State University professor
Frank Ascione. Please advocate stringent penalties with full-term confinement. Both
offenders should be barred from contact with animals.
The dismemberment of a living being is merciless. It also serves as a yardstick to
measure probability of a repeat offense. I look forward to any
case updates you can provide.
Thank you,
