Sentencing adjourned for P.E.I. man convicted of animal cruelty
A Crown prosecutor wants at least 60 days in jail for a P.E.I. man convicted of animal cruelty.
19-year-old Daniel Ponzo was convicted in court on March 13 for injuring a dog in February of last year, by slamming the animal's head into a wall.
At a sentencing hearing Tuesday in Charlottetown provincial court, Crown prosecutor Jeff MacDonald asked court to sentence Ponzo to jail for anywhere from 60 days to six months.
Mojo, a mixed breed dog, required stitches to its head and was treated at the Atlantic Veterinary College following the incident. The dog has been returned to its owner, a woman who had been Daniel Ponzo's girlfriend at the time.
"He was straight, cold sober," said the Crown prosecutor, as he described Ponzo's reasons for injuring the animal. "He was motivated by straight desire to harm Mojo."
At trial last month, a veterinarian testified Mojo's cuts, bruises and ruptured ear drum were consistent with "blunt force trauma" and were not caused by scratches from a cat's claws, as Ponzo claims.
Daniel Ponzo maintained his innocence Tuesday in court.
"There's no physical evidence against me, all just professional opinion against me," Ponzo told Provincial Court Judge John Douglas
"You're dealing with my opinion now," the judge told Ponzo.
Daniel Ponzo is defending himself without a lawyer.
Court heard he is looking for work, after losing his job last fall.
The Crown also asked court to order Ponzo to have no pets for 10 years, and to pay $850 to Mojo's owner, to cover veterinary bills.
Douglas adjourned sentencing until May 2.
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