A pizza delivery man living in his car has been jailed for four weeks after being convicted, for a second time, of neglecting his Pomeranian by leaving it in his Ford Laser for 15 hours while he made deliveries.
Ho Hung-kei will also have his pooch taken off him, according to on.cc, which covered the case yesterday at Kwun Tong Court.
The 52-year-old pleaded guilty to keeping an animal in a way which may cause it needless or avoidable suffering. The charges related his leaving of his pet dog locked in his car on December 28 last year.
It was not his first offence of the sort.
Just four months before, Ho had received a suspected two-week sentence for locking the pooch inside the vehicle, on.cc reported.
In the most recent case, the court heard passersby found the Pomeranian unattended about 9.45am inside Ho’s car, which was parked at an outdoor carpark in Sai Kung.
There was food and water in the car but when the members of the public returned at 1pm, the dog was still there, prompting them to call authorities.
Firefighters broke the window and rescued the pup, and authorities took the car. Ho was arrested when he to the police station to report his dog and vehicle missing.
Though the defence lawyer pushed for leniency, noting Ho was unable to afford a flat and had lived in his car for nine months, the judge wasn’t swayed, calling the treatment “cruel” and possibly life threatening had the temperature been hotter.
A spokesperson from the SPCA said they were waiting for the court papers from the case before arranging an adoption for the dog. They reminded people not to leave their pets unattended in cars.
“Don’t risk it even if you parked your car in a shaded area the car does heat up very quickly,” they said.
“ If people do spot a dog in a car then call the police if the dog appears to be going into heat stroke, call the police or call our 24 hour hotline.”
