14 DAY TRIAL // The popular video game Candy Crush was likely one of the reasons a Canadian man shot and killed his neighbor's pet dog, according to a judge in Saskatoon.
On April 11, 2013, a one-year-old St. Bernard called Bentley climbed a big pile of snow and jumped over a fence directly into Eugene Krawchuk's pasture, where he was keeping horses, a donkey and a llama-alpaca cross.
Bentley's owner, 16-year-old Lianne Price, reportedly ran over to try to get the dog out. The incident interrupted Krawchuk's computer time, as he had to stop playing the popular social-media game Candy Crush, in order to get out of the house and deal with the situation.
So, the 59-year-old man grabbed his .22-calibre rifle, went to the pasture and killed his neighbors' St. Bernard with one shot.
Although Krawchuk's lawyer said the shooting was done in a safe way and for a valid reason, provincial judge Marty Irwin said he didn't believe Eugene Krawchuk's testimony during the trial. The latter said he had shot the dog because it had been attacking his livestock, but the judge argued that he had many other options to deal with the dog, like firing a warning shot.
“The dog was merely trespassing. He went out with the sole intent of shooting the dog,” judge Irwin said, according to CBC.
On a court hearing on Thursday, the judge said that Krawchuk likely killed Bentley for three reasons: the dog trespassed his property, forced him to leave his home, interrupting his online game of Candy Crush, and there were past tensions between the Krawchuk and Price families.
On the other hand, the dog owners claim the incident caused a lot of pain in their family.
“I don’t think they know how much they’ve destroyed our family. There’s been a lot of tears,” Michael Price, Lianne's father said.
Krawchuk was found guilty of shooting a dog without lawful excuse and possessing a firearm without a license. He was sentenced to 12 months probation and ordered to do 50 hours of community service.
In addition, he was ordered to donate $500 (€362) to the SPCA and $800 (€579) to Lianne Price, the owner of the dog.
The judge also sentenced the man's wife Laurie to 12 months probation and gave her a conditional discharge for unlicensed possession of a firearm.
Candy Crush Saga was the most downloaded free application on Apple’s Canadian iTunes store in 2013, surpassing Facebook and YouTube.