Couple Who Paid Young Girls To Stomp Puppy To Death Gets Life Sentence

The Filipino couple behind the 2013 viral video in which female teenagers stomp a puppy to death was sentenced by the Regional Trial Court in the Philippine province of La Union to life imprisonment.

Dorma and Vicente Ridon were also ordered by the court to pay 9.4 million pesos fine each as fine for their conviction of human trafficking, cruelty to animals, child abuse and breach of wildlife protection regulations.

Judge Alpino Fernandez, in his decision, wrote, "As clear as day, the factual evidence points to the accused spouses as the perpetrators of these grievous crimes."

The lawsuit was pursued by the animal welfare group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). Jason Baker, the vice president of PETA Asia, said the court decision is a win not only for their advocacy but also for local law enforcement and animal lovers who hated the cruelty the couple did to the young dog by paying the young girls and making money from showing the reprehensible video on the Internet.

The couple are notorious for producing extreme cruelty to animals videos. Besides the stomping video, the Ridons have previously filmed the skinning alive of a dog and setting other live animals ablaze. The court learned that acts of cruelty have been performed on sea snakes, chicks, rabbits, guinea pigs, a puppy, dogs, frogs and rats in 2009 on order of the couple, according to the minors who testified in the case.

They sell the videos on the Internet to sexual fetishists from the US, France, Australia, Korea, Malaysia, Britain and other countries, PETA said.

Baker added, "The Ridons' sentences are a warning to anyone involved in the vile 'crush' video industry: there are grave consequences to harming animals." The pair had been in jail since July 2012.

Here is the viral video.

YouTube/All Pinoy Jokes+