May 27 2009 Court Appearance -CTV News

Video is here ( facebook)

Agency says N.S. has some of best animal anti-cruelty laws in Canada

BRIDGEWATER — An American agency that works for the legal protection of animals says Nova Scotia has one of the best systems in Canada when it comes to anti-cruelty laws.

"I was kind of surprised Nova Scotia was ranked in the top tier," said Mary Hill, secretary of Nova Scotia Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said Thursday.

"Upon closer reflection you have to bear in mind this is comparative and it says a lot more about the ranking of the other provinces that are lower on the list than it does about our legislation. It just means the other provinces have worse legislation."

The California-based Animal Legal Defense Fund released a report this week that said Nova Scotia is "one of the worst places to be an animal abuser."

For the second year in a row, it ranked this province in the top tier, along with British Columbia, Manitoba and Ontario, for its animal protection laws.

New Brunswick, Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Quebec were rated on the bottom tier while Alberta, Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, Yukon and Saskatchewan were placed in the middle tier.

Ontario was judged best while the Northwest Territories and Nunavut tied for worst.

The report said Nova Scotia ranked high because its laws allow judges to order abusers to reimburse the costs of care for an impounded animal, place restrictions on the abuser’s ability to own animals in the future and imposes increasing fines on repeat offenders.

But Ms. Hill said even though the province requires the society to enforce the Animal Cruelty Prevention Act and the new Animal Protection Act, it only gives the society $3,000 a year to do that.

Despite that, the society secured three animal cruelty convictions. They include Digby-area puppy brokers Gail Benoit and Dana Bailey; Alan Elliott, who had 130 cows seized from his farm in Spa Springs, Annapolis County, and Alice MacIsaac and her mother Zonda MacIsaac of Celtic Pets Rescue in West Bay Road, Cape Breton. The latter case alone cost the society more than $110,000.

The Agriculture Department gave the society a one-time lump sum of $100,000 last month "but it’s a drop in the bucket," Ms. Hill said. "We welcome it, but it’s not enough and it’s not ongoing."

That money covers the salary and expenses of 1.5 cruelty investigators. The society has 2.5 and Ms. Hill said it needs at least six to fulfil its obligations.

The society investigated 1,264 cruelty complaints in 2008 and 496 this year. Thirteen charges have been laid as of May 21. Other than the money from the Agriculture Department, the society’s only other sources of money are donations, bequests and fundraisers. Last year, with the help of 78 fundraisers across the province, the society raised just over $425,000, which left it with a $35,000 shortfall.

The province has passed new legislation called the Animal Protection Act, which requires veterinarians to report suspected abuse and to define acceptable standards of care for animals. But Ms. Hill said the legislation doesn’t go far enough.

However, since the regulations haven’t been written yet, Ms. Hill hopes the society will have a role in developing them so that they include specific wording that deals with animal fighting and puppy mills.

( bware@herald.ca)
By BEVERLEY WARE South Shore Bureau
Fri. May 22 - 6:08 AM

Benoit & Bailey to launch appeal

It shall be known that ....
The lawyer that represented the Digby's most Famous Puppy Miller/killer's has stepped down from the case. The pair will be representing themselves @ the next court hearing for other charges of animal cruelty from earlier this year.

THEY ARE STILL OUT SELLING PUPPIES

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May 8, 2009

Gail Benoit and Dana Bailey are launching an appeal of the verdict in an animal cruelty case and an assault charge that saw Benoit serve 21 days in the Burnside Womens Correctional Facility. The pair were also fined more than 3 thousand dollars each. The documents for appeal were filed yesterday, and they will appear in Supreme Court on the 27th of this month. Benoit tells the Maritime News Network that the appeal will outline 21 separate legal errors that were made by the judge during the trial. Benoit and Bailey also have another animal cruelty charge pending.

GAIL BENOIT DID 14 DAYS IN JAIL, OUT OF HER 21 DAY SENTENCE.

THIS IS POSTED ON CRAIG's LIST: (Because not one vet in this local area will stand up on the pairs behalf.)

Date: 2009-04-29, 1:02PM ADT PostingID: 1145826456

I am looking for a vet that is willing to come to court and give their expert evedience on the description of canine herpeis or chv1 dog diesese..

You will be paid top dollar and evrthing will be taken care of.... This will include going to court for 1 day..

Please I need the help on this ......

IF YOU YOURSELF OR IF YOU KNOW OF A VET THAT MAY DO THIS LET ME KNOW...
1 902 245 5340

Puppy Broker Faints

CTV news Apr 9. 09

http://thechronicleherald.ca/Front/1116020.html

DIGBY — Gail Benoit, a Digby County woman accused of selling sick and dying puppies, slumped to the floor in Digby provincial court Thursday after she was sentenced to 21 days behind bars for resisting arrest.

Upon hearing Judge Jean-Louis Batiot say that she was headed to jail, Ms. Benoit glanced quickly to her right, then fell, rather slowly, to the floor.

Some in the audience laughed while others smiled as they watched two sheriff’s deputies try to help the woman.

The court recessed, and as Judge Batiot left the bench, Ms. Benoit’s husband began to shout profanities and threats, saying his wife sometimes chokes.

"If my wife chokes in that jail, you fellas are going to be held responsible," Dana Bailey hollered, at one point addressing his remarks to "Mr. Batiot."

"How could you do that? This is not fair," he yelled at the judge.

Police and sheriff’s officers hustled Mr. Bailey out of the courtroom, pushed him out the front door of the courthouse and told him to move along. His wife, who had recovered by then, was then led away to jail.

In the fall of 2007, a search warrant was executed and 10 puppies seized from the couple’s home near Digby.

After a trial late last year, Ms. Benoit and Mr. Bailey were convicted on Jan. 29 of animal cruelty and each was fined $1,500 on Thursday. Ms. Benoit was also convicted of resisting arrest, for which she was jailed Thursday, and assaulting an SPCA special constable, for which she was handed a suspended sentence.

Crown attorney Rosalind Michie said Thursday that Ms. Benoit and Mr. Bailey have sold as many as 30,000 dogs in the past 13 years, sometimes selling 200 in a month.

Some people who have bought puppies from Ms. Benoit have complained to the provincial SPCA that the dogs soon died.

Ms. Michie also told the court that this is Ms. Benoit’s third conviction since 1994 for assaulting a peace officer.

"The Crown takes that very seriously," she told Judge Batiot.

She said Ms. Benoit and Mr. Bailey, who called themselves puppy brokers during their trial last year, have never accepted responsibility for their actions.

"All along, nothing has ever been their fault," Ms. Michie said. "There is no expression of any remorse."

The prosecutor said after court that she "would have liked to have seen a prohibition of (owning) animals" placed on the couple. But she said that under the Animal Cruelty Prevention Act, ownership of an abused or neglected animal is required for such a ban to be implemented, and it was determined during last year’s trial that the puppies weren’t owned by the couple but were merely possessed for the purpose of selling them.

Defence lawyer Michael Power said the level of neglect of the puppies was rather low. Although the animal cruelty charges dealt with 10 dogs, he said there is evidence that hundreds of dogs have passed through his clients’ care, the majority without complaint.

Mr. Power said Mr. Bailey, who turns 47 next week, is disabled and receives $869 a month from the Workers’ Compensation Board. Ms. Benoit, 39, also is disabled, the lawyer said, and gets $830 a month.

"They are not bad people. They are business people," Mr. Power said.

He said their puppy brokerage has been hurt by negative publicity.

"The business is basically in limbo now," he said.

Mr. Power also told the court that his clients sometimes speak their minds too freely in public.

"They blurt things out," he said.

"I’ve admonished them . . . I’ve told them to quiet down those emotions. But they do become emotional."

Ms. Benoit and Mr. Bailey must also pay $2,478 in restitution for care and treatment of the sick puppies, and Ms. Benoit will be on probation for 18 months.

Gail Benoit Faints at Prospect of Going to Jail
http://dogkisser.blogspot

Gail Benoit gets jail time for 2007 assault

You tube videos of today's proceedings:
Dana Screams @ CTV news
Dana Speaks Back
Dana Bailey Thrown out of court

April 9th 2009 by Jeanne Whitehead/Digby Courier

After shouting at Judge Jean-Louis Batiot, Dana Bailey continued his verbal tirade as he left the court house Jeanne Whitehead photo Gail Benoit gets jail time for 2007 assault
Benoit, Bailey each fined $1500 for animal cruelty

Today, seconds after Judge Jean-Louis Batiot sentenced Gail Benoit to 21 days jail time for her 2007 assault of SPCA special constable Nancy Noel, the female half of the Benoit Bailey puppy broker team began weeping and her knees buckled beneath her.

Her apparent medical crisis triggered a verbal outburst by her common law spouse, Dana Bailey.

“How could you do this to a woman who has had surgery on tumours in her neck?” Bailey yelled at the judge. “How could you do this? She has kids at home.”

Benoit and Bailey were also each fined $1,500 for animal cruelty and instructed to pay restitution of $2478 to the SPCA.

The April 16 sentencing was in response to being found guilty on assault and animal cruelty charges stemming from the 2007 seizure of 10 sick, malnourished puppies from their Roxville property.

The raid by SPCA officers (accompanied by RCMP officers) took place on two October days, a point that was duly noted by Judge Batiot.

The judge was prepared to disregard the fact that Benoit had two prior convictions in the mid 90s for assaulting peace officers, and sentenced her to 18 months probation on her first Oct. 2007 assault charge. But the fact that she assaulted and obstructed Noel two days later—at a time when she had already consulted with her lawyer—meant her behavior must be denounced.

Crown attorney Rosalind Michie had also asked the judge to ban Benoit and Bailey from animal ownership, but the law indicates that such a ban can be imposed when the animals that have suffered cruelty or neglect are owned by the abuser.

The Valley Bull puppies that were seized in October 2007 were owned Pat Harlow-Robar who expected Benoit and Bailey to sell the pups on her behalf.

Benoit and Bailey will appear in court again in September on animal cruelty charges relating to their 2008 sale of sick and dying puppies

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Local News Update April 9, 2009

A woman convicted of animal cruelty and assault will spend 21 days in jail. The sentencing of Gail Benoit happened in Digby Court this morning, and Benoit passed out when she heard the ruling. Benoit and her husband Dana Bailey, who was also convicted on animal cruelty charges, have been fined and are prohibited from owning animals for the next 8 months, pending their trial on more animal cruelty charges.

The two who were selling puppies were charged after several of the dogs they sold died from Parvo Virus. Bailey became very loud upon hearing the ruling, and had to be escorted out of the courthouse by the RCMP. Benoit was sentenced to jail time because it's her third assault conviction. http://www.k-rock893.com/index.asp?mn=12

Crown attorney ponders Benoit-Bailey sentence

Will Puppies R Us duo be banned from owning animals?

by Jeanne Whitehead/Digby Courier

The Nova Scotia SPCA wants the courts to impose a long-term ban on animal ownership in the Gail Benoit-Dana Bailey case.
Crown Attorney Rosalind Michie requested that Benoit and Bailey be prohibited from owning animals when the Puppies R Us duo was found guilty of animal cruelty Jan. 29. The charges stemmed from the October 2007 seizure of sick malnourished pups from their property.

Because Benoit and Bailey’s lawyer, Michael Power was not present in court at the time of the verdict, Judge Batiot said he could not consider imposing the ban at that time.

Crown Attorney Rosalind Michie told the Courier she will be consulting with the SPCA in considering the range of sentence that is appropriate for the pair. They could be fined, they could be prohibited from owning animals—or the sentence could be a combination of the two.

Michie said after the 2007 seizure, Benoit and Bailey were charged with animal cruelty under both the provincial act and federal act, but because the charges were essentially the same, the guilty verdict and sentencing relate only to the provincial act.

This means Benoit and Bailey could be prevented from owning animals in Nova Scotia, but should they decide to move to another province, the ban would not apply.

The couple was also charged Jan. 5 under the provincial Animal Cruelty Prevention Act and the federal Criminal Code. Those charges stem from Benoit’s 2008 sale of pups that died of parvovirus within days, or hours, or leaving her hands.

RICK'S RANTS

Puppy brokers guilty!
Halifax News Net

" Guilty was the verdict in Digby provincial court yesterday, a decision roundly applauded by those involved in animal rescue. Gail Benoit and Dana Bailey have been on their hit list for years. The pair run Puppies 'R Us out of their Digby County home and have been the subject of many complaints over the years after dogs they sold got ill and even died. Often they would do their business from the back of a van in mall parking lots. The husband and wife team were tried on charges of animal cruelty after 10 puppies were seized from their home in the fall of '07. During the incident, Benoit threw a pup at an SPCA officer. The couple will be sentenced the end of March. The SPCA wants the two banned from ever owning or selling animals again. The courts do have the authority to impose such a ban. Let's hope the good judge throws the book at these two.

The provincial government also has to bring in tougher measures to deal with puppy mills which operate freely in Nova Scotia. That's right, there's no law declaring these operations to be illegal and no requirement for any special licensing to sell animals. Until the government cracks down, these fly by night operations will continue to thrive."

Thank you to another voice!