Culprit probably releasing anger through revenge attacks, says expert
THE Mid-Levels canine killer could be a dog-owner carrying out a revenge campaign after an attack on his own pet, Dr Striwing suggested.
Based on human serial killers, experts say it is 95 per cent certain the poisoner is a man, a contention backed up by the only sighting of the culprit in 1995 by solicitor Jonathan Midgely.
That year, Mr Midgely's dog, Ruth, survived after eating some of the tainted meat. He spoke briefly to the man before realising his dog had been poisoned. Two weeks ago, police called on his help for a second time as moves to snare the culprit were stepped up.
Mr Midgely was able to give a description of an Asian man in his mid-40s who was about 1.7 metres and balding. He said the man spoke reasonable English and wore workman's clothes.
Dr Striwing, a lawyer by profession who advises police and prosecutors in Sweden on animal-abuse cases, also analyses animal-abuse crime scenes.
'This has to be speculation, but it might be the case that he had a dog that was attacked by other dogs and severely bitten. He might have been very close to the dog,' she said. 'We know this phenomenon from killers and incest abusers.'
She said that in human serial cases, a pattern of behaviour developed into more serious crimes, but whether that could be applied to an animal-abuser was not known.
Dr Striwing - who has studied 1,000 animal-abuse cases - was invited here by Dr Roderic Broadhurst of the University of Hong Kong's Centre for Criminology.
She said: 'I think this person must have some familiarity with dogs. He seems not too afraid of dogs . . . he doesn't seem too worried about dogs coming up to him to smell the 'good' things he has for them.'
Dr Broadhurst believes the poisoner's motivation may be displaced anger. 'His anger is dealt with very secretively, he's not boasting about it. It's some release. Whatever anxiety or anger inside him gets released by the act,' he said.
Dr Striwing asked readers to contact the Post on 2565 2604 if their dog had fallen ill or died in suspicious circumstances but they have not reported it to their vet or police.
