“Looking at the dog’s misery and suffering after it was stabbed, the one-year jail sentence under Section 428 of the Penal Code (mischief by killing or maiming any animal) does not give the animal world justice,” the Malaysia Animal Association (MAA) said in a statement today.

“This is a decision made solely for self-appeasement.”

MAA stressed that the Department of Veterinary Services Malaysia (DVS) should have taken over the investigation and prosecution of the case so that the Animal Welfare Act 2015 could have been used against the man.

The maximum jail term is a maximum of three years under the Animal Welfare Act, but a judge can impose a fine of up to RM100,000.

S Surais, 38, was sentenced to a year’s jail by magistrate Suzana Mokhtar at the Jasin Magistrate Court yesterday after he was found guilty of killing his neighbour’s dog in Jasin, Melaka.

He was also found guilty of trespassing under Section 448 of the Penal Code. He was sentenced to four months imprisonment, with the magistrate ordering that the sentences be run concurrently from the date of his arrest (Nov 5).

Jasin district police chief Mispani Hamdan previously told reporters that the dog’s intestines had spilled out after the attack last week and it died a few hours later.