A former delivery driver who was caught on camera beating a chained dog with a golf club in December has pleaded guilty to one count of cruelty to animals, after first claiming the dog had terrorized him.
Tik Ching-tak, 52, made the guilty plea during an appearance at the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Court today, on.cc reports.
The court heard that in the days leading up to the incident, Tik had been delivering frozen meat to a store on Cheung Wong Road every day. The dog in question, a black male named “Wong Jai” who belonged to the owner of another store on the street, routinely made him anxious by following and barking at him, Tik said.
The defendant claimed that he tried to talk to the owner about moving Wong Jai somewhere else at a certain time each day so he could deliver his goods undisturbed, but the owner ignored his concerns.
While Tik’s lawyer said the Dec. 19 attack was carried out impulsively, the disturbing video shows something that looks far more premeditated, with the frightened dog trying desperately to hide underneath the table on which it was sleeping prior to being struck with a golf club.
Tik was arrested just hours after the surveillance footage of the attack appeared online..
Wong Jai sustained bruises to his left eye and left-side of his nose, and needed to stay with the vets for five days following the incident.
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Tik’s lawyer told the court that his client regretted his actions as he is now unemployed, was under a lot of pressure, divorced, and was hoping for a community sentence instead of jail time, HK01 reports. Fans of Coconuts HK court stories will recognize “pressure” as being a mitigating circumstance in roughly 97.3% of Hong Kong court cases.
Magistrate Ada Yim Shun Yee adjourned the case until March 22 for sentencing pending a probation report and a psychological workup of the defendant.
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