A man who kicked a dog up and down a street “like a football” and then burned its remains has been jailed for a total of 18 months.
Christopher Foy was seen by a neighbour attacking the dog late at night.
Foy, 27, claims he was high on drink and drugs when he carried out the brutal attack on the little pup which was named ‘Buttons.’
Pensioner Carrie Pringle, a neighbour of Foy’s in the small village of Mountcharles, said that she saw him “kicking the dog in the air like a football.”
However, when Ms. Pringle opened up her window and shouted at the accused, he picked the dog up and walked on.
Flatmates of Foy said how he had gone for a walk late in the evening of January 24th last but returned ten minutes later without the dog.
Garda Sgt Oliver Devenney told Letterkenny Circuit Court how the dog, small terrier, had been found and it had severe scorch marks to its body.
A visitor to Foy’s flat, Gary Walsh, told Gardai that he witnessed the accused kicking the dog out the door and then squeezing its neck.
An examination on its remains later found that the dog had died as a result of a ruptured liver as a result of blunt force trauma.
Foy said that at the time he was taking between 20 and 50 Benzodiazepine tablets a day as his medication had not been working.
He was also mixing this with alcohol.
He said he was devastated having learned that he had killed his little pup which was just about 12 months old.
He told the probation services “I’ve killed Buttons due to my drinking and drugs. I loved this dog with all my heart and I couldn’t imagine hurting her.I didn’t mean to kill her but this was a week of destruction and my medication was not working,” he said.
Mrs Pringle, who had witnessed Foy kick the dog repeatedly, told the court in a statement that she felt Foy could be rehabilitated.
“His actions on that night was a result of drugs. I’m concinved he could make a life for himself if he gets off drugs,” she said.
Foy was also charged with making threats to kill the father of his partner.
Foy admits sending a mass card in the name of the IRA to Cyprian Gallagher.
The card was left on Mr Gallagher’s doorstep and he suspected that Foy, who had a child with his daughter Shannon, was responsible.
Gardai called to a number of shops which sold mass cards and they found the name of a mass card bought in the name of Cyprian Gallagher at Timoney’s News in Donegal Town.
Upon examining CCTV, Gardai discovered it was Foy who had purchased the card.
He initially denied the charge but later admitted to Gardai that he had sent the mass card.
He also admitted to a charge of criminal damage after causing more than €1,500 of damage to the flat in which he was a tenant in Mountcharles.
Barrister for Foy, Mr Peter Nolan said his client had been addicted to tablets and had received psychiatric treatment at St Conal’s Psychiatric Unit in Letterkenny for two days.
He said his client’s father had died when he was just 12 months old and that he had left school at 16 and was barely able to read or write.
On killing Buttons his dog, Mr Nolan said “He destroyed the only thing he loved.”
Judge John Aylmer sentenced Foy said it was clear that Foy is a person in need of significant treatment for his addictions.
He sentenced him to two and a half years in jail for making threats to kill, a further 18 months for Cruelty to Animals and nine months for the criminal damage of his apartment.
He also ordered that all sentences are to run concurrently and suspended the last 12 months of the case while backdating the sentence to February last when Foy entered Castlerea Prison.
Judge Aylmer also made an order that Foy seek the necessary treatment for his addictions as part of his order.
He also banned Foy, who had 33 previous convictions for a range of offenses including public order, theft and criminal damage, from keeping animals for life.
* Speaking after the case, ISPCA Inspector Kevin McGinley congratulated Garda James Connolly and Sgt Oliver Devanney in assisting the ISPCA in this successful investigation and also Nicholas McGarvey, a vet with the Old Church Veterinary Clinic in Donegal Town.
This particular case is the second custodial sentence imposed under the Animal Health and Welfare Act of 2013 and both were in Co Donegal.
Tags: