Sick carer who battered and killed dog in front of children in park struck off

Aija Cernevica, 30, struck and kicked the dog before strangling it to death.

A sick carer who battered and strangled a dog to death in front of children in a park has been struck off.

Aija Cernevica, 30, was banned from working in the profession on Thursday, May 7. The brute, of Kilbirnie in North Ayrshire, is currently in jail serving a three-year sentence for the depraved attack.

She was caged at Kilmarnock Sheriff Court after admitting the crime in January. Cops were called to the horrendous incident after receiving reports of a dog being assaulted at Orr’s Trust Public Park in Beith in May last year.

By the time officers arrived at the scene, the helpless pooch was found dead. The court heard how Cernevica repeatedly struck the dog, which was in her care, with her hands.

She then kicked and stamped on it, bit it and seized it by the collar.

Cernevica went on to swing the animal across a fence before going on to drag and throw it around the ground in front of horrified children.

Evil Cernevica then straddled the dog, pinned it to the ground with her body weight, held it by its throat and strangled it to death. She committed the sickening offence while on bail.

The details of the horrifying incident were laid bare during a Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) hearing this week. The watchdog also revealed that Cernevica was in the possession of five blades when she launched the frenzied attack on the dog.

She was removed from the care register indefinitely.

A statement from the SSSC reads: “Your actions caused the suffering and death of an animal in your care. You reactions are likely to have caused significant emotional harm to members of the public who may have witnessed your behaviour. You engaged in a course of violent and abusive behaviour over the course of a day, which indicates a pattern.

“Your behaviour is indicative of significant attitudinal and values issues which have the potential to place others at risk of serious harm. Your actions amount to a significant abuse of power and trust, albeit that trust was not derived from your registrable role.

“The behaviours which led to your convictions were very serious. There are significant public protection concerns arising from your behaviour. We consider the public interest to be high and that the reputation of the profession could be damaged as a result of your behaviour. A finding of current impairment is necessary to maintain confidence in both the social services profession and the SSSC in an effective regulator.”

It concluded: “A condition would not be appropriate because there are no conditions which could be placed on you which would address why your fitness to practise is impaired. The type of behaviour at issue is not the type of behaviour which Page 5 of 6 conditions would rectify. You are not currently working in the sector. A condition would not be workable or enforceable.”

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