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司法 · 虐待动物案判刑

Knoesen因杀害凯尔皮犬Faith获缓刑判决

治安法官将Faith遭杀害一事称为酷刑,却暂缓执行Bradley Gavin Knoesen的12个月监禁刑。报道所述的理由指向先前的法院裁决;遣返一事仍未确认。

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译自英文原文。

法庭在量刑时获悉,一岁的凯尔皮犬Faith曾短暂恢复意识,随后被Bradley Gavin Knoesen杀害。这只狗曾多次被按入水中;被救活后,Knoesen用玻璃瓶将她打死。⁠1

治安法官Donna Webb将这场袭击称为酷刑。但她于11月5日在卡尔古利治安法院判处的刑罚,并未要求Knoesen立即入狱:这名31岁的英国背包客承认对动物造成不必要伤害后,被判处12个月监禁,缓刑12个月。检方曾要求判处即时监禁。⁠1

看待这一结果时,必须保留两个区别。缓期执行的监禁刑不等于没有监禁判决。而没有立即入狱也不意味着Knoesen从未被羁押:他自9月23日的袭击事件后一直被拘留,并通过视频从东金矿区地区监狱出席量刑听证会。他在庭上没有发言。⁠1

听到这些事实时,我觉得这更像是酷刑……令人难以理解。

Donna Webb 1

在哀求声中仍持续的袭击

量刑详情依据ABC News当时对庭审的报道。报道描述的是反复发生的暴力行为,期间有机会停手——而非一次致命打击。杀死Faith后,Knoesen将她的尸体绑在摩托车上,拖过西澳大利亚州金矿区卡尔古利郊外的丛林地带。⁠1

他的表亲当时在场。Knoesen多次邀请表亲一起动手;表亲则要求他停手,并在袭击过程中哭得无法自已。警方检察官Amy Southall说,Knoesen想让Faith的主人看看他对这只狗做了什么。狗主人并非这名表亲,而且Knoesen与那个人的关系在法庭上仍不明朗。这一说法证明的是Knoesen说过什么,并未完整解释他的动机。⁠1

辩护律师Anthony Eyers称他的当事人是「爱狗人士」,其行为「不符合一贯表现」。他告诉法庭,Knoesen是大学毕业生,拥有计算机科学学位。Southall驳斥了对其行为的这种描述:「这完全是无端且不必要的……令人震惊的行为,」她说。「不是爱狗人士会做的事。」⁠1

法庭获悉,Knoesen与表亲喝了「极大量的酒」。Webb不接受醉酒是解释。她称Faith之死「持续时间很长」,说这项罪行激起了公众愤怒,并将其与该州所见最严重的虐待动物案件相提并论。她对辩方说:「你的当事人似乎极其执意要杀死这只动物。」⁠1

为何监禁刑被暂缓执行

尽管如此,Webb还是暂缓执行刑罚,并指出最高法院在其他虐待动物案件中的裁决。这些裁决是报道所述的判决结果依据——并不表示她接受了辩方对Knoesen「爱狗人士」的描述,也不表示她认定酒精可以为他开脱。治安法官对暴力行为的评价十分严厉;她选择的刑罚则不要求立即入狱。⁠1

现有的法庭报道没有指出具体的最高法院裁决,也没有刊载完整的量刑理由。这限制了我们对判决结果所能作出的解释。若称这些先例令Webb别无选择,或重构一套尚未见于现有报道的详细权衡过程,都没有根据。

西澳大利亚州《量刑法》允许法院在认为监禁适当的情况下暂缓执行监禁刑。第76条规定,如果不能暂缓执行,监禁本应是适当的刑罚。因此,法律机制允许出现表面上的反差:法院可以严厉谴责罪行,判处监禁,并暂缓执行。缓刑12个月的12个月监禁,意味着为期一年的监禁刑在一年内暂缓执行,并非合计两年的监禁刑。⁠3

对于一般的缓刑,第78条规定,如果某人在缓刑期内实施另一项罪行,并因此被定罪,而该罪行可能判处监禁,法院将采取进一步行动。相关时间点是新罪行实施之时。仅凭这一触发条件,无法确定法院会下令服完多少缓刑刑期。⁠4

对于这项具体判决,能说的也有限。量刑报道没有说明如何精确计算Knoesen在判刑前被羁押的时间抵扣、是否附加其他条件,或是否禁止他饲养动物。报道提到他自9月23日起被羁押,但没有说明量刑时如何详细处理这段羁押时间。⁠1

遣返仍是预测,而非决定

Knoesen于4月持打工度假签证抵达澳大利亚。他当时与姨妈和表亲住在卡尔古利,并在矿业从事井下卡车司机工作。Eyers告诉法庭,他的当事人可能会被遣返。这是辩护律师的预期,并非政府已宣布的决定。⁠1

ABC报道称,该台已联系内政部征求意见。其量刑报道并未证实签证被取消、作出移民拘留决定或遣返决定,也未证实遣返已经完成。Knoesen必须离开澳大利亚的日期尚未确认。⁠1

刑事指控已进入认罪和判刑阶段。他的移民前途尚无经确认的公开结果。必须将这两个问题分开看待:法院已经判处刑罚,但律师的预测并不能确定政府接下来会采取什么行动。

播出原貌
  1. Bradley Gavin Knoesen killed a pet kelpie and received a suspended prison sentence.
  2. Prosecutors wanted immediate imprisonment, and the magistrate described the attack as torture. But the sentence doesn't require him to begin an immediate prison term.
  3. What led the court to suspend the sentence, and will he now have to leave Australia?
  4. Knoesen pleaded guilty to causing an animal unnecessary harm. The 31-year-old British backpacker was sentenced at Kalgoorlie Magistrates Court on November fifth. The dog he killed was Faith, a one-year-old pet kelpie.
  5. The court imposed twelve months in prison and suspended that term for twelve months. The suspension puts the prison term on hold for that period. Knoesen had already spent time in custody while awaiting the outcome.
  6. Western Australia's sentencing law allows a court to suspend imprisonment even when it considers a prison term appropriate. A suspended sentence also carries the risk of further court action if the person commits another offence.
  7. Under the rules for ordinary suspended sentences, a further conviction can bring the sentence back before a court. The new offence must have happened during the suspension period and carry a possible prison penalty. The entire term isn't automatically activated.
  8. Knoesen had been held in Kalgoorlie since the September twenty-third attack. He appeared for sentencing by video from Eastern Goldfields Regional Prison and didn't speak during the hearing. Earlier proceedings had concerned bail, before the guilty plea resolved the charge.
  9. Faith briefly regained consciousness before Knoesen killed her. The violence continued through several stages, even as his cousin pleaded with him to stop.
  10. Knoesen had consumed what the court heard was an extreme amount of alcohol with his cousin. He picked Faith up and repeatedly submerged her in water. She lost consciousness and was briefly revived before he beat her to death with a glass bottle.
  11. He then tied her body to his motorbike and dragged it through bushland on Kalgoorlie's outskirts. Knoesen repeatedly invited his cousin to join in. His cousin instead asked him to stop and wept uncontrollably as the attack unfolded.
  12. Police prosecutor Amy Southall said Knoesen wanted Faith's owner to see what he'd done to the dog. Faith belonged to someone other than the cousin. Knoesen's connection to her owner was unclear in court.
  13. Defence lawyer Anthony Eyers described Knoesen as a “dog lover” whose behaviour was “out of character”. Southall challenged that description, saying these were “not the actions of a dog lover”. She asked the court to send him straight to prison.
  14. Knoesen had arrived in Australia in April on a working holiday visa. He was living with his aunt and cousin in Kalgoorlie and working as an underground truck driver in the mining industry. Eyers also told the court his client was a university graduate with a computer science degree.
  15. Southall called the attack “absolutely gratuitous and unnecessary” and described it as “shocking behaviour”. Magistrate Donna Webb said the crime had outraged the public and compared it with the worst animal-cruelty cases seen in Western Australia.
  16. Webb described Faith's death as “protracted”. She said, “When I hear these facts, it strikes me more as torture … beyond comprehension.” She rejected alcohol as an explanation and said Knoesen appeared incredibly determined to kill the animal.
  17. Webb nevertheless suspended the prison term, pointing to Supreme Court decisions in other animal-cruelty cases. Those earlier decisions were the explanation she cited for the outcome, despite the prosecution's request for immediate imprisonment and her own severe assessment of the attack.
  18. The RSPCA recorded 256 animal-cruelty reports across Goldfields-Esperance last financial year, a rise of 24 percent. Within that region, Kalgoorlie-Boulder accounted for 121 reports, up 20 percent. The figures cover welfare reports across the community.
  19. The RSPCA said 90 percent involved dogs or puppies with insufficient care, food, water or shelter. In a separate Perth case the previous week, a puppy farmer who kept more than a hundred dogs in appalling conditions was sent to prison.
  20. Eyers said Knoesen was likely to be deported. No government decision requiring him to leave Australia has been announced. His criminal sentence has been imposed, while his immigration future remains unresolved.

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