Animal lover gets 30 days’ jail when he could not pay fine for keeping dog sanctury

David Darmanin
Animal rights activist Rennie Scicluna was given a 26-day jail sentence on Wednesday after disobeying a court order to close down a dog sanctuary in Bahar ic-Caghaq, and defaulting in paying a €300 fine thereof.
“When the court ordered Rennie to close down the sanctuary last year we asked government for an alternative premises but we haven’t been given one yet. The court imposed heavy fines which could not all be paid, so one of them was converted into a jail term,” said Maria Jenkins, co-founder of the Animal Lovers Association, the organisation running the sanctuary.
In 2003, Scicluna was evicted from the dog sanctuary he ran on Manoel Island to make way for the MIDI project. In a desperate attempt to find shelter for the dogs, he squatted in a derelict building in Bahar ic-Caghaq, formerly known as The Oasis.
“The Oasis had been abandoned for more than 30 years,” Jenkins told MaltaToday. “We spent a lot of money to fix it as best we can – at least we put it to good use. They used to break in to hold black masses before we came in.
“Then a man named Sammy, claiming to be the owner of the property, approached Rennie. Seeing his good intentions, an agreement was reached to keep the sanctuary running as long as the number of dogs in the building did not exceed eight.”
Maltese laws state that not more than 10 dogs can be kept without the permission of the Commissioner of the Police.
“But only some time after the sanctuary kicked off, people were leaving dogs tied to the front gate and we couldn’t leave them out in the streets, so we let them in,” she said. “At a point we were keeping 35 dogs. We now have 19 since we are doing our best to find them a home.”
The property owners never registered complaints on the number of dogs kept in the building.
“Rennie wanted to make sure that the dogs weren’t disturbing neighbours so he went round the neighbourhood asking whether the dogs were barking at night. Most of the neighbours did not even notice there was a dog sanctuary, while all others who knew said the dogs were not disturbing them.
“An old man who lives close by had said he could hear them from his balcony, but not from his bedroom,” she said. “But that same man reported us to the police, and Rennie was then taken to court.”
In July 2007, Magistrate Joseph Apap Bologna found Scicluna guilty of keeping more than 10 dogs without a police licence, and for failing to keep the dogs from being a nuisance to neighbours, disobeying police orders and relapsing after disobeying previous court rulings.
Scicluna was ordered to evacuate the dogs within 30 days, and fined Lm2 daily until the place is shut down. He was also warned with a Lm100 fine and a further Lm276 penalty in the eventuality of his defiance.
“The first fine of €300 was luckily paid by Manwel Magrin of the St Francis Foundation. Unfortunately no one could pay the second €300 fine, so it was converted to a prison sentence. We now have another €600 fine pending, and we have no idea how we can pay it,” she said.
“I tried raising funds, and in fact I managed. I went to the TV programme Deal or No Deal as a participant to be able to raise enough money to pay the fines. Seven months down the line, I still haven’t received the cheque. I called the people in charge of this payment yesterday to tell them it’s too late now. Rennie has been jailed.”

ddarmanin@mediatoday.com.mt

 

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