Animal welfare group Be Their Voice has expressed concern about the delay in the judicial review of the punishment of a St Michael man who pleaded guilty to animal abuse.On Wednesday, the group’s president Lavern Beresford said that it was a year since the appeal was submitted online and she and other leaders of animal welfare organisations were deeply concerned about how the matter was being handled.“It is very frustrating that after almost one year, this matter is yet to be heard, the file can’t be located, and time is wasted attending what should be the scheduled court hearings,” she told Barbados TODAY.In a highly-publicised incident that was captured on video and circulated on social media, a dog named Sparky drowned on Pebbles Beach on September 13, 2022. Davino Shakell Howard, 38, of Bullens Avenue, Dalkeith Road was charged with wantonly ill-treating and causing unnecessary suffering to an animal.During his trial in January 2023, he pleaded guilty and received 12 months of probation, in addition to counselling deemed necessary by authorities.But attorney-at-law Lalu Hanuman, who is representing Be Their Voice, filed a judicial review request a few weeks later on February 15 that year.Hanuman explained that there had been issues locating the case’s file and the first time the group appeared for the court hearing on May 8, 2023, the hearing was adjourned.
