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Tuesday, 24 January 2006 |
A 41-year-old man was sentenced to seven months in San Mateo County jail today for killing his friends dog with an ax while he was pet sitting.
Mark Merjil, 41, will begin serving his sentence Feb. 4, Deputy District Attorney Morris Maya said.
The dog, a brindle Mastiff named Titan, was hacked and bludgeoned to death March 29, 2004, when Merjil and his girlfriend were pet sitting at a mobile home at 3015 East Bayshore Blvd. in Redwood City.
The couple got into an argument, during which the dog bit the top of the womans head, Maya said. The injury was not serious, he said.
Merjil and his girlfriend locked the dog inside the trailer while they went outside, but Merjil became "extremely angry" and re-entered the home, Maya said. There, he began beating the dog with his fists and a metal mop handle, Maya said.
He picked up an ax and struck the dogs neck with the blade, then beat the dog with the blunt end.
The next day, someone in the trailer park called police about the commotion. Officers found the dead dog in a garbage bag.
Merjil pleaded no contest to a felony count of animal cruelty Nov. 14 and has been free since then after posting $20,000 bail.
Merjil was the second Redwood City man this week to be locked up on animal cruelty charges.
Joshua Emert, 31, was sentenced Tuesday to four years, four months in state prison after strangling and beating to death his grandmothers dog June 9.
Emert used baling wire to strangle the dog, a terrier named Benji, and stuck it in a bag, Maya said. The dog was still alive, however, so Emert bashed in its head with a mallet. |
