- California, USA -
On Thursday, April 28, 39-years-old AMAL ZAKI GERGES HANNA pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor animal cruelty charge and was sentenced to a year of probation, the maximum under the charge, 100 hours of community service, and ordered to pay $425.00 in fines.
If she violates probation she could be sentenced up to a year in jail.
Back in February HANNA was caught on camera yelling and repeatedly kicking her small dog, a Yorkshire Terrier named Lucky in a in southwest Bakersfield neighborhood.
Bakersfield Police tells me that at the time of the incident Lucky was only 10 months old.
On February 18, 2022, Ms. Rina Graciliano, a homeowner, was alerted by her security system to the activity in her driveway and saw the incident unfold. She ran outside and started yelling at HANNA: “Don’t kick it!”
Animal Control was called out but they said they could not remove Lucky because there were no visible injuries.
Ms. Graciliano rightfully said just because there weren't injuries on the dog you could see, doesn't mean he shouldn't have gotten medical attention.
“They definitely should have taken the dog, at least get the dog assessed for internal injuries”, she told Bakersfield Now.
KGET reports that HANNA’s husband told police that his wife was walking the dog when he got loose and ran off. The wife then caught the dog and kicked him as punishment.
HANNA and her husband were told the dog would be seized if there were further reports of abuse.
According to KGET, HANNA’s husband later apologized online for his wife’s actions after the video of the incident went viral on social media.
Bakersfield Police arrested HANNA on Misdemeanor animal cruelty and she was shortly released.
Ms. Janae Jansen, a community member, told Bakersfield Now that she saw the security camera video on the Nextdoor app and said: “It was clear abuse, getting kicked 9 times, one of them was straight to the face. You can hear in the video the sound of the kicks and the rage from her screaming at him.”
Ms. Jansen went on to say: “Next time the dog gets kicked in the face, maybe it's jaws' broken and then that's too late. It's a tiny little dog, I mean that kick could have done some serious damage.”
I have also emailed Assistant District Attorney Joseph Kinzel and requested additional information about the case.
I will post an update if I get a response.
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