the verdict
We had court yesterday morning and would you believe the psycho neighbour actually showed up? She was not required to, in fact, the animal control officer said she wouldn't even be there. Surprise ~ she was. Well it didn't deter me from my purpose, which was to prove Seamus innocent. To sum it all up, neighbour woman lied, changed her story and even produced some crocodile tears to try and impress our judge. Didn't work. I had my statement all prepared in my head and written out in front of me in my neatly organised folder which also consisted of SPCA paperwork, the itemised and paid in full bills from neighbour woman's vet and the paper which released Seamus to us the monday after said incident at which time the officer had decided he was NOT going to charge us with a thing. Neighbour woman had NOTHING in her defense, no paperwork, no witnesses...nothing. The judge even snickered upon hearing the dog in question was a Jack Russell Terrier. I heard waves of whispers behind me in the courtroom as the other defendants awaiting their turn with the judge could not believe I was in court defending a JACK RUSSELL from being deemed dangerous.
Ludicrous, indeed.
Needless to say, alls well that ends well and I even got my two cents in regarding how the neighbour has been harassing us and even went so far as to contact our landlord, whom she did not know, and complain about us. And then proceed to have four other neighbours who had no clue who we were, call him also to complain. Well we didn't get thrown out from this house, of course, as her desires clearly pointed towards. The judge did not deem Seamus dangerous and the issue of me "allowing" the dog to run loose in a leash law area was dismissed since he clearly ran out the door by accident and as a responsible pet owner I immediately got in the car to track him down.
Of course Seamus can't come back here with us under rule from our landlord, and seeing how we don't have the money to currently move, yet again, the SPCA will need to find a suitable home for him. It is my intention to contact the woman in charge of the local JRT rescue organisation and hopefully she can send someone out to collect him. That way we can have contact with whomever fosters/adopts him.
The insane woman was standing out near our house earlier this afternoon, telling her tales of woe to another neighbour, and pointing vivaciously towards our house and saying such obnoxious things as, "How in the world could I lose if the officer was on MY side?"... And telling of how very "distraught" and "upset" she is.
Whatever.
I won fair and square and that is something she can dwell on for the rest of her life if she so chooses to.
I have not an ounce of pity on this woman. She should have told the truth to us, our landlord, the police officer and the judge. However, she chose not to, which created a domino effect in her downfall. Really terrible things happen to those who are not kind or truthful. So she may continue to carry on in her (very obvious) miserable existance. I have better things to do with my time than be pestered by the likes of her.
On another note, we have been pummelled by much rain stemming from the remains of Hurricane Jeanne. Thankfully it didn't have any effects on Stephanie's wedding Friday last, which I shall have to rant and rave about next entry. It was a beautiful event and we all had so much fun. And to top it off we got to see Clare's Godparents. Clare entertained them fully with various musical instruments they own. Photos to follow soon.....
