Banned after kicking and stamping on dog

Fifty-four-year-old Martin Gerard Gallery, Sloan Street, Lurgan, admitted causing unnecessary suffering to a Husky dog on January 31 this year.

He was sentenced to two months in prison, suspended for two years, and disqualified for three years from owning, keeping or participating in keeping animals.

The court heard that police received a report of a dog being viciously being kicked by a male at the rear of flats in Sloan Street.

They found a young Husky dog. The defendant appeared agitated and said the dog had damaged its box and was becoming too much to handle.

A witness said she had heard the dog yelping and saw the defendant drag it by the muzzle before stamping on it and kicking it.

A solicitor for the defendant said the dog had been owned by his daughter and had become too much for her to handle.

He added that rather than send it to the pound Gallery decided to look after it but the dog twice destroyed its kennel.

The barrister added that the dog ate the side walls and floor of its kennel and the defendant lashed out in a moment of frustration.

He was at the end of his tether and there were no visible injuries to the dog.

District Judge, Mr Mervyn Bates, said that offences against animals were taken seriously by the courts.