“It Doesn’t Feel Like Enough”: Our Reaction to the Missing Dog Case

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Robin Kid and carry out in the morning.

Speaker 2 (00:03):
So the big news which came out after the show yesterday,
the court ruling happened for that guy. We we spoke
a lot about on the show who had lost his
German shepherd, so that in quotations lost his German shepherd
in the back of his Highlucks and was looking for
the for the car and hoping to find Arnie. And
you know we were all about it, weren't we.

Speaker 3 (00:23):
Go the whole of Brisbane was searching for this jog
like people took time off work to go out looking. Yeah,
his name is Nathan McKeon, and we actually spoke to him.

Speaker 1 (00:34):
But I'm on a lead at the minute. A lady
saw German shepherd the small and their own logan elease,
So I'm from the location right now. Okay, anybody are
on the lord in the area, keep your eyes out
through a strange German shepherds family said like, we're just
have balk And I got up out a bed at
like two thirty in the morning, I was driving around

(00:56):
all Cleveland's manly went on and then I was even
in the valley. I was checking parapacs to see if
you was abandoned anywhere, and.

Speaker 3 (01:08):
That was all lies.

Speaker 2 (01:10):
Also him going going to be there in four minutes.
He knew that there's no way that that dog was
going to be here.

Speaker 4 (01:15):
I think they didn't lie about it. Has had no
idea where it was.

Speaker 3 (01:19):
So Nathan faced Cleveland Magistrates Court yesterday facing multiple charges,
including one count of wilfully and unlawfully killing, maiming or
wounding an animal. He also pleaded guilty to additional charges
including driving under the influence, driving without a license, and
obstructing police. It's interesting because the magistrate, Deborah Vassa, described

(01:42):
the snowball effect of that lie, which got bigger and bigger.
She said, quote, you lied to your wife about your whereabouts,
and I understand you were ashamed. You didn't have the
guts to stop that lie and stop that snowball from
getting bigger and bigger. Now, the so what's it?

Speaker 2 (02:00):
Alleged that he was at the strippers or something like that,
and then so and knew whether where his car was parked,
and so did he know? Did he know or or
forgot that because he got drunk one of the two,
and either way he then lied to everyone saying how
the car has been stolen and he said that he

(02:21):
was not at the strippers you know somewhere else.

Speaker 3 (02:23):
Heard McKinnon had no criminal history. Mister Quinn, who's his lawyer,
said he turned to drugs and alcohol to cope with
family issues and his decision making spiraled. It is acknowledged
that he did himself search extensively for the vehicle. The
reality is he had no idea where the vehicle was.
He was in such a state and he had no idea.

(02:46):
I mean the consequences of this. The court has also
heard that he and his family have gone into hiding
at different addresses. He lost his job because his boss
felt that they could no longer guarantee his safety due
to death threats.

Speaker 1 (02:59):
Wow out.

Speaker 3 (03:00):
The court handed down. He has been disqualified from driving
for eight months and be required to serve two hundred
and forty hours of community service. No conviction was recorded.
Now here's my question to you, right.

Speaker 2 (03:13):
Too, fat So that was it. That's the That's so.

Speaker 3 (03:17):
I just googled what is the maximum sentence for animal
cruelty in Australia and it turns out in Queensland it's
seven years imprisonment for serious animal cruelty under the criminal
code in South Australia, you can be angel up to
ten years with a two hundred and fifty thousand dollars fine,
And I don't like this.

Speaker 4 (03:35):
What's a maximum? What's what's more cruel than what he did?

Speaker 2 (03:38):
Well? No, people like actually literally torture animals, Like that's.

Speaker 4 (03:41):
What what do you think is going to happen if
you park a car with a dog in the back.
But he's for one But I don't care if you
go for one mere too? You're not especially under a
at a canopy too? Where's there's no fresh air? Where's like,
what do you think there's no water for the dog?

Speaker 3 (03:58):
But there? I mean, he wasn't thinking it was. And
that's what the courts have heard.

Speaker 2 (04:03):
I don't know, it doesn't seem like enough. I think
the I don't know. I just felt like the police
were looking and everyone was like the I'm a massive
dog love it, and everyone was the amount of spent
resources looking at the dog it should be. But then
I guess, I mean the punishment is what's his family

(04:23):
think of it? Yeah?

Speaker 3 (04:24):
And what's happened to his family? Like he's you know,
he's got to face the people who love him the
most and acknowledge that what he's actually done, and when
he spoke to us, he was always talking about his
daughter and the dog. I mean, look, I will always
stand on the side of trying to be compassionate to
understand people's mistakes. But this is what I mean.

Speaker 2 (04:44):
That is just doesn't seem like you hear about people
getting two years in jail for tax evasion right where
like it's a victims crime. But yeah, it's Blake hurt
or certainly killed the dog and it hurt a lot
of people.

Speaker 4 (04:56):
Made everyone else feel bad. I look for this dog.

Speaker 3 (05:00):
I mean. The natural consequence also is that from now on,
for the rest of his time in Brisbane, potentially he
will struggle to find work, struggle to find somewhere to live,
and everyone's going to know what he did and you
can never change that. So it's just awful.

Speaker 2 (05:16):
Let's never talk about this again.

Speaker 4 (05:18):
An agreem