Court of Cassation clears man who stabbed to death a charging dog

Daily Tribune

21-05-2025

A Bahraini man who stabbed a charging dog to death has been cleared by the kingdom's highest court, which ruled that his belief in the threat was enough to justify self-defence, even if no attack took place.
The Court of Cassation made clear that there does not need to be an actual attack or continued aggression. What matters is whether the person believed they or their property were in danger, and whether that belief made sense in the moment.
The man had been walking through the capital with his own dog when another came charging towards him, barking.
Fearing an attack, he drew a knife and struck once, catching the animal in the upper back. It died from the wound.
Accusation
He was later accused by the Public Prosecution of intentionally killing a domestic animal. Four individuals also lodged civil claims, seeking BD20,000 in compensation for the harm they claimed the act had caused.
The Lower Criminal Court dismissed both the criminal charge and the civil case, accepting arguments made by his lawyer, Islam Ghoneim, that the man had acted to defend himself and his dog.
Appeal
The prosecution appealed the decision. The High Criminal Court, sitting as an appeals bench, found the man guilty in his absence and fined him BD100.
That ruling was challenged. His new lawyer, Abdulrahman Ghoneim, took the case to the Court of Cassation, which found in his favour.
The court said the appeal judges had been wrong to weigh the man's actions as though he had been calm and detached. What mattered, it said, was what the man saw and feared at the time, and how he reacted in that moment.
Fear
Self-defence, the court ruled, does not depend on whether an actual attack occurred. It is enough that the person reasonably feared something bad was about to happen.
In this case, the dog appeared to be attacking, and the man acted on that belief. The danger did not need to be real. It only needed to seem real to him, and that was enough.