Magistrate Adibah Kadir freed Saroja Devi Krishnan, after saying no prima facie case had been established by the prosecution.

Saroja Devi, 48, was charged under Section 289 of the Penal Code last July with neglecting her dog, which led to it attacking and injuring a 12-year-old girl in the neighbourhood.

Her counsel, P Ravee, said he was happy for Saroja Devi as she had gone through so much anguish and mental torture over the incident, which also saw her spending a night in the lock-up unnecessarily.

“I hope this acquittal will also free her from the trauma that the family has gone through,” he told FMT.

In his submission in September, Ravee argued that the prosecution had failed to prove the ownership of the dog.

He also said the fact that the dog was found with a chain around its neck showed that there was no negligence involved.

In July last year, Saroja Devi was forced to endure the night in the Taiping lock-up in purple attire as police officers failed to verify her claim that she had made the bail payment, although she had the receipt.

She had said only the timely intervention of magistrate Adibah, whom she described as caring, enabled her to be released the next day. Otherwise, she would have had to spend another two nights in the lock-up as it was a Friday.

Her daughter, Rangitha Gobi, went back to the court the next morning and fortunately, the magistrate was in her office although it was a Saturday.

She said Adibah was kind enough to see her and expressed surprise that her mother was not released, before ordering that she be freed immediately.