A Surrey woman who brutalized a dog last year has been given two years probation.
Lindsey Susan Hirtreiter, 23 at the time of the abuse, pleaded guilty Monday to one count of animal cruelty, and along with probation, was given a lifetime ban from owning an animal.
The judge accepted the defence’s argument that during the attack she had been in a psychotic state, brought on by stress, depression and marijuana use.
She had never experienced such a state before, her lawyer said.
A black Labrador retriever named Ryder had wandered away from his home in Surrey on Valentine’s Day, 2015.
Sometime after, Hirtreiter picked up Ryder and brought him back to her basement suite.
There, she bound him, stabbed him with scissors, poured butane in his eyes and shoved metal objects into his eyes and throat.
Police arrived to find Hirtreiter and her four-year-old daughter covered in Ryder’s blood.
Ryder had sunglasses on and a cigarette in his mouth, apparently to make the dog less frightening to her daughter.
Hirtreiter was placed in a psychiatric ward for a month after the attack.
She continually apologized in court, according to CTV News.
Ryder underwent emergency surgery to save his eyesight and other expensive treatments. The family was able to crowdfund $30,000 to help pay for the veterinary expenses.
He is still healing from the attack.
~ with files from CTV News
