Janiece Weins was heading to her gym last Wednesday morning when she saw a shocking case of animal abuse in her Vancouver neighbourhood.
“I looked over and this guy came out from around the shrubs and was screaming at his dog. Then he picked him up to about chest height and dropped him. The dog was yelping and crying. And then he started stomping on him like he was trying to put out a fire.”
As the abuse continued, Weins screamed at the homeless man to stop beating his dog and then called 9-1-1. While she was calling the police, the man picked up his belongings and headed away from the homeless shelter located at the former Kettle of Fish restaurant.
Police arrived and arrested 19-year-old David Michael Inman and seized his dog Whiskey, a young German shepherd.
Inman was charged with causing unnecessary pain and suffering to an animal on Nov. 5 and is currently out on bail. He is scheduled to appear in court on Nov. 18 at 9:30 a.m.
Police said the 19-year-old has warrants in both Alberta and Manitoba.
Whiskey, whose current condition is unknown, was taken to the SPCA.
A resident in the neighbourhood since 2000, Weins said she’s observed a lot of changes ever since the City of Vancouver created a homeless shelter at the former Kettle of Fish in early October.
“I believe in my heart because I haven’t seen this in my neighbourhood,” Weins said.
“I think it was probably related to shelter somehow.”
Police could only say Inman was “associated” with the Kettle of Fish homeless shelter located at 900 Pacific Avenue.
But with the shelter at the former Kettle of Fish restaurant soon to be joined by a 157-bed homeless facility at the old Quality Inn, local residents are concerned with safety for the elderly and the young.
“We’re frightened; we use this park for our children to run around and play,” Lyle Weinstein, neighbourhood resident and director of the Lions Gate Montessori Society said.
The City of Vancouver made the deal in September to lease the former Quality Inn building on Howe Street for two years, before it’s demolished for redevelopment. After plans for moving forward on the project were released by the city at the end of October, more than 200 people turned out for a community meeting to voice their concerns. While their issues were heard by the agency set to manage the new facility, it did not, and will not change the city’s plans.
In the wake of this recent incident, a Citizens Town Meeting is being held at the south foot of Howe Street tomorrow night at 5 p.m. to discuss the city’s approach to homelessness and their neighbourhood.
~ with files from John Daly
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