B.C. Appeal Court orders new trial for man who hit ex's dog over head with shoe

A man sentenced to four months in jail after being found guilty of injuring his ex’s tiny dog has won an appeal against the conviction in B.C. Appeal Court.

Randeep Ghataura had sought an acquittal of the criminal charge, but instead Justice Peter Edelmann sent the case back to provincial court for a retrial.

The case dates back to March 2020, when Ghataura went to his ex-girlfriend’s apartment to return some belongings, according to the decision released on Friday.

His ex wasn’t home but her dog, Tacori, a Chihuahua and Cairn Terrier mix weighing under four kilograms, was there, it said.

A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder.

Ghataura called her from the apartment to say the dog was “acting strangely,” and she returned home to find it sitting in its own urine and feces, unable to move. After a vet said Tacori couldn’t stand or hold up its head, she had it euthanized, Edelmann wrote.

Two years later, his ex recorded a call with him in which he admitted he had hit Tacori and delivered a stammered apology, saying, “I hit her on the head … a couple of times when I didn’t like the way she behaved … I think maybe with a shoe,” according to the decision.

He called it a “quick snap” decision and he didn’t plan it or mean to harm the dog, it said.

Ghataura was charged with two counts under Canada’s Criminal Code of causing injury or death to an animal and was found guilty at trial in 2024 of the more serious charge of the two. The other charge was stayed.

The guilty verdict stated that Ghataura had “willfully and without lawful excuse killed, wounded or injured an animal” that was kept as a pet.

He was sentenced to four months in jail, which was postponed pending his appeals.