Nadeem Madatt [28] pleaded guilty in the Wynberg Magistrates court on all charges of dogfighting. This followed after the Cape of Good Hope SPCA pursued an investigation with video footage received last year on the evening of 31 May 2021.
Inspector Mark Syce spearheaded the investigation and recalled, “I went into the office to assemble the paperwork to obtain a court order at Wynberg Magistrate Court. Afterwards, I met up with my Chief Inspector Jaco Pieterse, members of Law Enforcement and members of the Manenberg SAPS to assist me with carrying out the court order”.
Confiscation
Says Syce, “on the 01st of June 2021, at approximately 11H15, I arrived at the address in Manenberg. It was evident to me that it is the same property as that of the video by the yellow shade cloth on the gate and the yellow shade cloth hanging on the line. I served him with the Court Order and asked him to show us around. We found the son Mr. Nadeem Madatt in the room fast asleep in his bed. We woke him up and found in the corner a Brown female pitbull chained in his room in the corner by the entrance to his room. Chief Inspector Jaco Pieterse asked him for his phone and Nadeem unlocked it and we looked in his phone’s gallery and WhatsApp for any evidence of the dog fighting videos. In the WhatsApp videos folder we found 2 videos of the dog fighting. The Brown Female Pitbull is the same as the one in the video. Mr. Nadeem Madatt was detained and taken to SAPS Menenberg. We seized 2 Pitbull dogs from the property of which both were chained inadequately.”
Guilty Plea
The Cape of Good Hope SPCA identified and matched the suspects sandals and boxers to that in the video.
According to Syce, “we also found the brown Omega Sandals and checkered boxer shorts in Mr. Nadeem Madatts’s room which were worn in the video. The boxer shorts was hanging on the cupboard door knob and the sandals were found on the shelf just above his bed where he was sleeping. Chief Inspector Pieterse took into evidence the boxer shorts, brown omega sandals and Samsung A20 cell phone as evidence and sealed it in a SAPS evidence bag. A Seizure notice was issued to Mr. Nadeem Madatt by Chief Inspector Jaco Pieterse, a copy of the Court Order as well as Regulation 468 which was given to him.”
Mr. Nadeem Madatt confessed and admitted to using his dog for dog fighting. He said that the brown female Pitbull in his room is the one that is fighting in the video. He said that he doesn’t really know the other gentleman, whose name he also doesn’t know but does live in Manenberg, is the owner of the tan Pitbull being mauled and bitten in the video by his dog.
Judgement
The accused was sentenced with a R5 000 fine or three months imprisonment, wholly suspended for three years on the condition that the accused is not convicted on further charges of animal fighting. If an accused person pleads guilty and does not waste the court’s time, they are generally given a more lenient sentence.
The Cape of Good Hope SPCA is grateful for the successful conviction, however disappointed in the lenient sentence handed down in this matter.
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SPCA ANTI-DOG-FIGHTING UNIT
Dog fighting is an inhumane blood-sport where dogs, who have been bred, conditioned and trained to fight, are pitted against each other to fight. In most cases dog fights are for spectator entertainment and financial gain. Dog fighting is a thriving underground crime that may be happening in your community without you even knowing about it! Most dogs that are used for fighting live a miserable life where they are kept chained or caged in poor living conditions for most of their lives.
