From: the.wise.one@abel.co.uk   
      
   Oregon man get probation for stabbing ex's fish   
      
   (Agencies)   
   Updated: 2009-10-14 15:07   
      
      
   PORTLAND, Ore.: A Portland man who attacked his ex-girlfriend and   
   impaled her pet fish this summer has been sentenced to two years   
   probation, a psychological evaluation and community service. Donald Earl   
   Fite III, 27, pleaded guilty Tuesday to animal abuse and domestic   
   violence assault.   
      
   [PHOTO: Donald Earl Fite III is shown in this booking photo provided by   
   the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2009, in   
   Portland, Ore. Agencies]   
      
   According to court records, Sarah Harris had broken up with Fite but   
   returned to her Portland apartment July 25 to find him lying on her bed,   
   saying he wanted to get back together.   
      
   When Harris tried to leave, Fite shoved her against a wall, grabbed her   
   hair and tossed her against a bathtub.   
      
   Harris fled but returned with an officer to find her fish — a bright   
   purple betta named "DeLorean" — on the wood floor with a knife through it.   
      
   According to court records, Fite quickly admitted killing the fish,   
   telling police: "If she can't have me, then she can't have the fish."   
      
   Fite's attorney, Tom Macnair, said Tuesday that killing the fish was a   
   "very low point" in his client's life.   
      
   "He is absolutely mortified and ashamed about what he did to the fish,"   
   MacNair said in Multnomah County Circuit Court. Fite, who had no   
   previous criminal history, declined to make a statement.   
      
   Harris did not attend the hearing. In a phone interview with The   
   Oregonian newspaper, she recalled crying hysterically when she saw the   
   fish with a knife sticking through it.   
      
   "Donald bought the fish for me, and I'm sure he knew how much I cared   
   for it," she said.   
      
   Betta fish, also known as Siamese fighting fish, are colorful freshwater   
   aquarium fish that usually are between 2 and 3 inches long.   
      
   Prosecutor Eric Zimmerman told Judge Eric Bergstrom that Harris plans to   
   get a memorial tattoo of the fish and wanted Fite to pay for it.   
   Bergstrom, however, declined to make Fite pay restitution for the tattoo.   
      
   The judge ordered Fite to stay away from Harris, but said he could have   
   contact with fish.   
      
      
   http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2009-10/14/content_8793549.htm   
      
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