WESTFIELD – A former city resident has been arraigned for a charge of animal cruelty after bleach was poured over a caged dog which was left to soak all day.
The case began in January of this year when Officer Luis Morales responded to a Union Street address in response to a report that a person had poured bleach over a dog.
According to Dianne Patitucci, the mother of the dog’s owner, the roots of the issue reach back to November, 2013, when Jennifer Gingras, 34, of 23 Lincoln St., Feeding Hills, moved in with her son and his dog.
Patitucci said that after Gingras moved in with her son she began a quest to “get rid” of Gigit, his 15-year-old Jack Russell terrier dog.
Ken Frazer, at the time the city’s director of animal control operations, said when the incident occurred that Gingras did not like the dog and “every chance she had, she kicked it or molested it in some way.”
Patitucci said that, as a compromise, her son agreed to keep Gigit confined in a crate when he wasn’t home but apparently his girlfriend wasn’t mollified and she continued to pressure him.
Patitucci said that her son told her that the woman went so far as to incite the dog to bite her so she could report the bite to animal control officers.
When the bite was reported, Gigit was quarantined for ten days but, Patitucci said, “that wasn’t enough for her as she continued to argue with my son to ‘get rid’ of him.”
Frazer said that the woman gave her boyfriend an ultimatum, a choice between her and his dog.
“He chose the dog” Frazer reported and said that, after her boyfriend left for work, she poured bleach over the caged dog and also left.
Patitucci said “The dog sat on a bleach-soaked pillow for somewhere between 7-10 hours. My son came home and found him cowering and crying in the cage.”
“The dog’s feet were all burned, they were cherry red from sitting in the bleach all day” Frazer said and added that bleach got in the dog’s eyes.
In April, Patitucci reported “Gigit is doing fairly well. The chemical burns on his body are healed but he has lost the sight in his right eye.”
She later reported that Gigit underwent a procedure which restored some vision to the eye.
Frazer reported in a court document filed with a criminal complaint application that “Gingras denied any involvement in the bleach incident” but he pointed out that she and her boyfriend were the only persons who had access to the apartment.
Gingras appeared before Judge Philip A. Contant yesterday in Westfield District Court for arraignment on a charge of cruelty to an animal and was released on her personal recognizance pending a Sept. 3 hearing.
If convicted, in district court, Gingras faces a sentence of as much as two and a half years incarceration in the house of correction and/or a fine of as much as $2,500.
