Post by Paul on Jan 5, 2005 16:46:54 GMT 9.5
Dog Stands Trial for
Sniffing Man's Crotch
CANBERRA (Australia) — There are certain minor breaches of etiquette a dog can get away with that a human should never attempt:
Licking ice cream from people's cones when they're not looking.
Eating "tootsie rolls" out of the kitty box.
Dropping a soggy tennis ball in the underwear of someone who is sitting on the toilet.
And finally...
Sniffing the crotch of a total stranger at a nightclub.
...Well, hold on a minute. There's a lawyer in Sydney who thinks even dogs shouldn't be allowed to do that.
Attorney Clive Steirn, representing 22-year-old Glen Darby, of Sydney, claimed that his client was assaulted by police dog "Rocky" when Rocky put his nose on Darby's pants outside an Oxford Street nightclub, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.
Rocky, a drug-detection dog with the New South Wales Police Department, detected quantities of cannabis and amphetamines on Mr. Darby on February 25, 2001, bringing two counts of drug possession charges against the man.
On the grounds that a "crotch nuzzle" constituted an intrusion on individual rights, the drug charges were dismissed by Deputy Chief Magistrate Mary Jerram last year. But on Thursday, a Supreme Court judge reversed the decision, recognizing that a crotch nuzzle could be interpreted in the animal kingdom as a friendly gesture and not an assault.2
Justice Barry O'Keefe listened patiently to Mr. Steirn's argument, "If your honor were to do as this dog did and nuzzle the defendant's genitals, it would be an indecent assault."
The judge, while struggling to keep a straight face, replied, "It is unnecessary for the purposes of this decision to resolve that question."
Judge O'Keefe went on to clarify: "Acts that might constitute an indecent assault if perpetrated by one human being on another, may well be characterized quite differently if performed by one dog on an other, or by a dog on a human.
"When a 'crotch nuzzle' ... is performed by a dog in relation to a human being, it may be no more than a conventional, friendly, social gesture with no hostile intent, and unlikely to constitute an assault."
Copyright © 2002 Canine Nation. All rights reserved
dogsinthenews.com/
Sniffing Man's Crotch
CANBERRA (Australia) — There are certain minor breaches of etiquette a dog can get away with that a human should never attempt:
Licking ice cream from people's cones when they're not looking.
Eating "tootsie rolls" out of the kitty box.
Dropping a soggy tennis ball in the underwear of someone who is sitting on the toilet.
And finally...
Sniffing the crotch of a total stranger at a nightclub.
...Well, hold on a minute. There's a lawyer in Sydney who thinks even dogs shouldn't be allowed to do that.
Attorney Clive Steirn, representing 22-year-old Glen Darby, of Sydney, claimed that his client was assaulted by police dog "Rocky" when Rocky put his nose on Darby's pants outside an Oxford Street nightclub, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.
Rocky, a drug-detection dog with the New South Wales Police Department, detected quantities of cannabis and amphetamines on Mr. Darby on February 25, 2001, bringing two counts of drug possession charges against the man.
On the grounds that a "crotch nuzzle" constituted an intrusion on individual rights, the drug charges were dismissed by Deputy Chief Magistrate Mary Jerram last year. But on Thursday, a Supreme Court judge reversed the decision, recognizing that a crotch nuzzle could be interpreted in the animal kingdom as a friendly gesture and not an assault.2
Justice Barry O'Keefe listened patiently to Mr. Steirn's argument, "If your honor were to do as this dog did and nuzzle the defendant's genitals, it would be an indecent assault."
The judge, while struggling to keep a straight face, replied, "It is unnecessary for the purposes of this decision to resolve that question."
Judge O'Keefe went on to clarify: "Acts that might constitute an indecent assault if perpetrated by one human being on another, may well be characterized quite differently if performed by one dog on an other, or by a dog on a human.
"When a 'crotch nuzzle' ... is performed by a dog in relation to a human being, it may be no more than a conventional, friendly, social gesture with no hostile intent, and unlikely to constitute an assault."
Copyright © 2002 Canine Nation. All rights reserved
dogsinthenews.com/
