Dog groomer Celeste Rainone took the stand Monday and adamantly denied beating a poodle to death in a fit of rage.
“I would never do something like that,” Rainone, 53, said in Baltimore County District Court. “I don?t even dig in my garden because I might hurt earthworms.”
But Judge Barbara Jung didn?t buy the speech ? and convicted Rainone, a Shrewsbury, Pa., resident, of animal cruelty and mutilation in the Feb. 17 death of Rajah, the poodle.
“The dog was not cooperating and Ms. Rainone lost it,” Jung said.
Baldwin resident Nancy Pine, Rajah?s owner, first contacted police after her dog?s trip to the grooming shop turned deadly.
“That weekend was one of the worst weekends of my life,” Pine testified in court Monday. “To have him die was terrible. To find out he died by being beaten to death is traumatic.”
At noon on Feb. 16, she took her poodle to Grooming by Celeste at 5235 Hydes Road in BaltimoreCounty in “completely healthy” condition, according to Pine.
But the dog was noticeably different when he returned home at 7 p.m. He was “cold, wet and minimally responsive,” according to a report by veterinarian Patti Brennan of Falls Road Animal Hospital. Rajah died soon afterward.
According to an animal autopsy ? called a necropsy ? conducted on Rajah, the dog suffered from blunt trauma to the head, face, liver and other organs.
A neighbor of Rainone?s testified in court she heard a loud noise the day Rajah was injured and rushed to check on Rainone, who was acting upset and irrational.
Rainone testified that Rajah bit her twice while she was grooming the 14-year-old poodle.
In court Monday, prosecutor Matthew Breault played a recorded cell phone message Rainone left for Pine after the incident.
In the message, Rainone threatened to sue Pine for defamation.
“I?m going to put your phone number on every bathroom stall in Baltimore County,” Rainone said on the message.
A sentencing date has not been set.
