Love Vanished Instantly, Says Woman Who Caught Fiancé Mistreating Dogs

02/10/2015 - 09h12

Nina Mandin, a 26-year-old producer, says that the love she felt for her fiancé disappeared instantly after she caught him mistreating her two French bulldogs on January 30 at her home in Barra da Tijuca, in the west of Rio de Janeiro.

Mandin filmed the incident on a hidden camera.

The video shows Rafael Hermida Fonseca, 34, mistreating the dogs Gucci, of four years, and Victória, of just nine months.

It has already been seen nearly 300,000 times on Facebook, and has provoked widespread outrage across social networks.

The images show Fonseca headbutting Victória and throwing Gucci to the floor.

Mandin says that Fonseca had always been very affectionate towards her, her family and the dogs.

However, she became suspicious when wounds began to appear on the animals, and when they began to display a marked fear of Fonseca.

Watch the Video

"They became really scared of him. After that, the wounds started to appear and the vet couldn't explain where they were coming from. That's when I decided to install a camera in the living room," she says.

Mandin says that the pain she feels for her dogs is worse than that she feels for the end of her engagement.

"I'm not even thinking about the wedding. My pain is seeing what the dogs suffered." The wedding had been planned for June.

Fonseca is a lawyer, and owns part of a bar in the Barra neighborhood. He had lived with Nina and her mother for four months. The two first met a year and a half ago.

"It was a shock, because we think we know people, but in reality we don't," says Mandin. "But now, I want justice before the law."

The case was reported to the police, who summoned Fonseca to make a statement on Tuesday (10). He is suspected of cruelty to animals.

Reynaldo Velloso, president of the Commission of Protection and Defense of Animals of the Rio de Janeiro branch of the Order of Attorneys of Brazil, says that he will propose that the Public Prosecutor of Rio takes action against Fonseca for collective moral damage.

"We have to stop this mistreatment. This is why we have to take action against the aggressor, because society is a passive subject in the face of this crime, and the social networks are proof of that," he says.

THE OTHER SIDE

Folha tried to contact Fonseca and his lawyer, but neither one was available for comment.

On the Facebook page of Buddy's Bar, in which Fonseca owns a share, the other owners published a statement repudiating his actions and said that they will take legal action to remove him from the business.

Even after publication of the statement, the bar continued to receive threats from other internet users.

Translated by TOM GATEHOUSE

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	Ricardo Borges/Folhapress
	Nina Mandin, 26, and her two French bulldogs, Victória and Gucci