The Teddy the dog trial in Duncan will resume within the next 30 days.
After a full day on March 1 with BCSPCA special constables Matt Affleck and Toni Morrison, who removed Teddy from the property he was seized from, on the stand, and with at least three more Crown witnesses yet to testify, the judge in the case ordered that another trial day be scheduled within 30 days.
The courtroom on Friday was full of mostly supporters of Teddy who have been calling for Melissa Tooshley and Anderson Joe to receive the maximum sentences possible in the animal abuse and neglect case, while more supporters spent the day waving placards and signs in front of the courthouse.
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The afternoon was spent with defence counsel Scott Sheets questioning Morrison about her record of her questioning of Anderson Joe, the dog’s owner, when the dog was seized from his property last year.
“I take exception to the completeness of Morrison’s statement (provided to the Crown about her initial conversation with Joe),” Sheets said to the judge at the end of the day. “I believe there was evidence lost so we’ll never know what was said.”
Melissa Tooshley has already pleaded guilty of a single charge of failing to provide the necessities of life for an animal.
Anderson Joe, who is up on charges of causing unnecessary pain and suffering to an animal and failing to provide the necessities of life for an animal in the same case.
If convicted, Joe could face a maximum penalty of up to five years in prison, a $10,000 fine and up to a lifetime ban on owning animals.
In one of the most profoundly shocking and disturbing cases of abuse the BC SPCA said it had ever witnessed, special constables seized Teddy in critical distress on Feb. 16, 2018.
robert.barron@cowichanvalleycitizen.com
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