The trial of a San Mateo man accused of beating his dog never got its start Monday when he didn’t appear in court because he was allegedly hospitalized while on a trip to Jordan, according to the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office.
Rami Al-Zetawi’s failure to appear in court allegedly compelled Judge Stephanie Garratt to conclude he had fled the country to avoid prosecution for allegedly injuring his white husky named Toby. In March, a judge allegedly denied his defense attorney’s request that Al-Zetawi be allowed to travel to Jordan, and Garratt issued $500,000 warrant for his arrest Monday, according to prosecutors.
On May 19, 2017, Al-Zetawi, 38, was arrested after neighbors reported seeing him slamming a white husky named Toby to the ground, choking him, pulling his legs and causing the dog to cry out in pain in the front yard of his home on South Norfolk Street. When officers arrived at the scene, Al-Zetawi was found kneeling over the dog. Toby was rushed to an emergency veterinarian hospital where doctors determined his back was broken and required surgery, according to prosecutors
Al-Zetawi has been ordered not to possess or own animals, to stay away from the Peninsula Humane Society and to make no attempt to contact Toby as conditions of his posting a $50,000 bail bond. Al-Zetawi allegedly made several attempts to retrieve the dog when he was out of custody, causing the Peninsula Humane Society to keep the dog in an undisclosed location before Toby was adopted by a family, according to prosecutors.
Though court proceedings for Al-Zetawi stalled last year after a defense attorney questioned his competency in August, they were reinstated in the fall when he was found competent to stand trial based on doctor’s reports, according to prosecutors.
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