Horror moment dog owner hurls elderly pet over fence and onto concrete
This is the shocking moment a dog owner grabbed his elderly Staffordshire Bull Terrier and hurled him over a gate and onto concrete.
Terrifying footage caught the moment Kieran O'Connor, 35, launched his pet onto the hard floor rather than opening the gate so he could walk in. The cruel owner has been banned from keeping pets for five years after leaving pet Prince "exposed to acute pain".
The poor dog can be seen in the footage falling on his side and stumbling up as O'Connor, a self-employed gardener from Liverpool, lets himself into the garden by opening the gate.
The RSPCA investigated the case after a worried member of the public forwarded the shocking video to them, Liverpool & Knowsley Magistrates' Court was told. O'Connor later admitted to breaching the Animal Welfare Act 2006.
He admitted that he failed to meet Prince's needs to be protected from pain, suffering, injury and disease by the "infliction of physical abuse and emotional distress".
RSPCA Inspector Caren Goodman said in a statement to the court that she went to the defendant's then address in Kirkby, Merseyside, in October last year. Accompanied by a colleague and a Merseyside Police officer, she got no answer by knocking the door, but could see Prince through a window, sitting on the front room sofa.
The police officer who was with her called the defendant's number - which was advertised on his trailer parked outside - but he refused to attend the address. The officer gained entry into the home using a search warrant, after they waiting outside for 25 minutes, and Prince was taken into RSPCA care.
She said Prince had "ideal body condition", was "bright, alert and active" and showed "no obvious signs of distress". When she spoke to the defendant the following day, he claimed he was "putting his dog over the fence" because his neighbours had accused Prince of attacking their dogs.
A vet at RSPCA Greater Manchester Animal Hospital who viewed the footage, said that "instead of opening the gate" the owner was seen "picking up the dog and forcefully throwing it on the other side of the gate, in a report.
The vet added that "the dog has fallen down on its side/back" and "looks very confused on the video, it takes a few seconds for it to get up". The vet signed a Veterinary Certificate supporting Prince's removal from the house and at the surgery, he was given pain relief.
Although a full examination revealed that he had not sustained any fractures, the vet said he had been put through unnecessary distress and suffering.
At sentencing on July 2 O'Connor was also given a community order which involves 26 programme requirement days and ordered to pay costs of £500 and a victim surcharge of £114. After the hearing, Inspector Goodman said: "The most surprising thing about this case is that Kieran did not seem to understand that what he did was wrong.
"This attitude meant that he would not sign Prince over to us - even when the prosecution had run its course. We had to obtain an order from the court to make sure we could take him into our care and get him into a safe and secure environment.
"Every animal has the right to be treated with kindness and respect. Nobody should be cruel or neglectful towards any animal and the kind of violence we saw here is absolutely unacceptable.
"I would also like to thank the kind member of the public who reported this attack to us. Without their intervention and without the video evidence they allowed us to use, this prosecution would have been more difficult.
"It shows that people don't accept that animals can be treated in this way and also how helpful it is when those who witness cruelty can somehow provide footage to help us rescue animals in danger."
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