Spanish Court Convicts Man of Abusing Partner in First Case Involving an Animal 

A Spanish court this week found an 18-year-old man guilty of killing a puppy dog in front of his partner to inflict psychological damage on the woman, the first ruling to apply a gender violence law to a case of animal abuse, Agence France-Presse reported. 

A specialist gender violence court on the island of Gran Canaria convicted the man of tossing the couple’s four-month-old puppy off a cliff while also threatening to take his own life. The court handed him a suspended sentence of one year and one day in prison and barred him from approaching or contacting the woman for two years and one day. 

“The animal’s death was intentionally employed as a means to inflict psychological damage,” the court said, arguing that the case should be recognized as “vicarious violence against a companion animal,” and which needs “stronger punitive measures.”   

Vicarious violence, or violence by proxy, generally refers to a form of abuse where a partner hurts a child with the intent of causing suffering for their partner. In Spain, for example, more than 60 children have been murdered by their fathers or by their mothers’ current or former boyfriends in the past 12 years.  

However, this case marks the first instance in which a Spanish court applied the law against vicarious violence to an animal. Spain’s legal watchdog, the CGPJ, noted, describing it as a “groundbreaking ruling.”  

Spain has made a big effort to fight gender-based violence in the past few decades. A 2005 law introduced a series of support measures for women, including specialized courts, free legal support, emergency housing, and prosecution of abusive partners without a victim’s complaint.