Worst Animal Abuse Case Ever!

by Elisa Black-Taylor
(USA)

Good morning readers. I almost decided not to write this story as it is easily the worst animal abuse case ever. Maybe that’s an exaggeration, maybe not. I do know I’ve never read anything like this.

If you get upset easily, please move on to another story as this one will be difficult to read. It’s hard enough for me to get it into my computer.

The original abuse came to an end in November of 2009 when Long Island, New York resident Sharon McDonough, 43, was charged with animal cruelty. She pled not guilty to kidnapping, torturing and killing neighborhood pets. Authorities found at least 42 dog carcasses buried in her back yard. They are believed to be the remains of pets who had gone missing over the past several years. The cats McDonough killed were thrown in the garbage. She later stated she was afraid the dogs were microchipped and was afraid of evidence leading back to her should the microchips be read.

She eventually changed her plea to guilty to prevent her children from having to testify in court against her.

This case is about to get much worse. Sharon McDonough forced her children to watch and help torture the animals. She’s the mother to six girls ranging in age from 18 months to 13 years and one adult son. She would force the children to hold the cat or dog down while she taped their mouth and nose shut and watched them die. On one occasion she taped the mouth of a cat and hung it on her daughters bunk bed to watch it die. This was the cat’s punishment for knocking over a flower pot!

McDonough’s adult son Douglas, who has since moved out, was the one who turned her in. He called the living conditions for the animals in her home as “a concentration camp for animals.”

It gets worse readers. The six girls were forced to defecate and urinate in a bucket because they were barred from using the bathroom. They were only allowed to clean themselves with baby wipes. No showers or baths allowed. They were forced to eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and macaroni and cheese.

Now for the part of the article that will make you REALLY mad.

Child abuse of this kind is NOT a felony in Suffolk County, NY. Animal cruelty IS a felony and McDonough is looking at two years max for all of the torture and death she has now admitted to. She’s been in jail since late 2009 and her sentencing will be held in March 2011 by Suffolk County Court Judge C. Randall Hinrichs. He says he will give her the maximum two year sentence. The problem is, her time spent in jail since 2009 under $100,000 bond will count towards the two years. In other words, she can expect to be a free woman again by early summer. Not a bad deal for someone charged with six counts of endangering the welfare of a child, all misdemeanors; she also faces two counts of felony aggravated cruelty to animals and four misdemeanor counts of torturing or injuring animals.

These charges stemmed from five dogs and a cat in filthy living conditions being found in the home at the time of her arrest. The animals were removed from the home at the time of her arrest.

Child abuse isn’t even a felony in New York. It’s a misdemeanor!

The children didn’t appear in court since their mother confessed to the crimes. The courts are supposed to have an order of protection signed so McDonough cannot make contact with her children upon her release. The mother of seven in already a hated woman with more than 200 “hate mail” messages received by the prosecutor and judge.

What really burns me up about this case is something McDonough’s court appointed defense attorney said. James D’Angelo called the animal cruelty charges a “low level offense.”

I don’t even want to get started with how I feel about Mr.D’Angelo. Please feel free to read the reference article I’m attaching to this article.

The judges and other official information is also listed on the reference. Feel free to give them a call or write them a letter.

This may not be the worst animal abuse case ever, but it ranks right up there because of the nature of the crime and that young children were involved.

She slapped her children and inflicted major psychological damage. She tortured and killed dozens of pets. She made her children help her. I don’t think her getting out of jail this year is sufficient punishment. Serving multiple offenses at once is just a slap on the wrist. That’s what I see happening in this case.

What do you think? I’ll end this saying I seriously hope all of those poor tortured animals are waiting at heavens gate when Sharon McDonough goes a knocking.

Elisa

Reference:

http://www.pet-abuse.com/