Joshua Parfitt
A DOG has been called as a witness during an animal abuse trial against her former owner.
In a legal first for Spain, the pit bull was called to a Tenerife court to give testimony against the man who threw her in a bin in a suitcase.
The prosecutor for the province’s department of Environment explained the dog ‘obviously would not be able to speak’ but would instead show the magistrate her wounds sustained.
A spokesperson for the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands (TSJC) said the dog, called Miracle, would also raise awareness about animal abuse.
The defendant, who appeared via videocamera from prison in Seville due to a separate robbery charge, said he threw the dog out because he ‘thought it was dead’.
Prosecutors are asking for a prison sentence of between 9 and 12 months.
