The Snitch: Adam Houda to defend himself against charge after german shepherd escapes

Adam Houda says he will not accept he is an irresponsible dog owner and will defend himself against one of the most unusual charges Snitch has ever seen.

Lawyer Adam Houda has defended all manner of clients in his career, ranging from NRL stars in trouble to people accused of being terrorists.

But in one of his upcoming cases, he will be defending himself against one of the most unusual charges Snitch has ever seen.

On April 1, the 47-year-old is listed to face Campbelltown Local Court with the charge listed on court records as “owner of dog not under control in public place”.

It turns out Houda has a two-year-old german shepherd named Lucy who is something of a Houdini.

The pooch keeps escaping from his property and Houda has been slapped with two infringements.

Lawyer Adam Houda to defend himself against a charge relating to the escape of his german shepherd from his property. Picture: AAP Image/Joel Carrett

Houda said he has made numerous attempts to keep the dog from getting out.

“I’ve done everything humanly possible,” he said. “I’ve got CCTV video showing the dog opening the gate.”

Houda said he lives on a decent-sized property and that Lucy lives in an area he described as “a place like a tennis court” that measures about 6m by 7m.

Asked why he was defending the matter, Houda said it was not about the money he was fined. Instead, he believes he should not have been fined.

“I don’t see why it’s fair to issue an infringement where the owner has done everything humanly possible to keep the dog locked up,” Houda said.

The charge comes under the state’s Companion Animals Act that says “a dog in a public place must be under the effective control of some competent person” by means of an “adequate” leash or chain.

The maximum penalties vary. It is up to $11,000 if the dog was classified as “dangerous, menacing or restricted”. A small pooch would only result in a maximum $1100 fine.

Keskin’s grudge

It’s well established that recently deceased Lone Wolf bikie gang boss Erkan Keskin was a dangerous man, but one of his ex-associates gave us an insight this week about why it was a bad idea to get on the wrong side of him.

“If you crossed him, he never forgot about it,” the associate said.

So how did this play out in practical terms?

“Put it this way,” the associate said. “Two other rival bikies bashed him (Keskin) when they were all in jail together.

Lone Wolf bikie Erkan Keskin, who died this week, could hold a grudge, according to an associate. Picture: AAP Image

“Keskin wanted blood.

“He put a hit out on one of them for $500,000 to $1m.”

Then what happened?

“The bloke survived a few murder attempts because the guys he hired couldn’t get the job done,” he said. “But he eventually turned up dead.”

Was it Keskin?

“What do you reckon?”

Picture perfect

IT turns out crooks can be a vain bunch – and we won’t mention any names here because we
don’t want to be killed or injured.

But there has been a trend emerging recently where criminals have hated the photos we have of them in our archives that we published when we wrote a story about them.

So to remedy the situation, there are a number of them who have been contacting us to supply us with their preferred happy snaps where they look buff, or the afternoon sun is hitting their pearly whites at just the right contrast level.

It might be a reflection of the Insta-Tiketty-Tok era that we live in, but Snitch isn’t complaining – we’re actually in favour of it.

So send your pics (let’s keep it PG, please) to the email below for when you get arrested or sentenced to prison.

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