WARNING: This article contains graphic details that may disturb some readers.
A 40-year-old Sault Ste. Marie man who pleaded guilty to killing his dog by hanging it from a tree in the city’s east end will not serve any time behind bars.
Jason Howson was given a six-month conditional sentence order in the Ontario Court of Justice on Dec. 6 after being charged with killing his dog, Dax, earlier this year.
Police initially reported that an individual called 911 on the evening of May 23 to report a dead dog hanging from a tree in the 0-100 block of Black Road.
Officers with the Sault Ste. Marie Police Service found the deceased dog after being dispatched to the scene.
Police later identified Howson, who “fit the description of the suspect seen in the area where the dog was found,” according to a news release issued at the time. He was arrested and charged May 24.
In a Sault Ste. Marie courtroom on Friday, Ontario Court Justice J.P. Condon sentenced Howson to a six-month conditional sentence, which will see him serve house arrest for the first three months.
Howson will then have a curfew where he is ordered to remain in his home between the hours of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. during the last three months of his sentence.
Any breach of this order will result in jail time.
Howson has been banned from possessing any animals and weapons.