SPCA prosecutes man for beating a dog after it bit his daughter

A man has been prosecuted by SPCA for wilfully ill-treating an animal, after he beat a dog so hard its eye was left as a ‘bloody pulp’.

The case began on the afternoon of 26^th of November 2017 when the defendant left his seven-year-old daughter in the care of some friends. These friends were also looking after Patch, a male Staffordshire bull terrier, for another friend. Patch was chained up at the rear of the property.

Approximately half an hour later, the defendant received a phone call from his friends, telling him that Patch had bitten his daughter on the lips. He drove straight back, and took an aluminium baseball bat from his car and went straight to where Patch was chained up.

The defendant hit Patch four times on the head with the bat, which caused Patch’s left eye to rupture. He then took his daughter to hospital. She was admitted overnight for surgery on her lips. She also had claw marks on her leg and arm.

Patch’s owners took him to an after-hours’ veterinarian clinic. The vet found that Patch’s left eye was severely damaged, to the point of being a bloody pulp. The vet said Patch would have suffered a great deal of pain as a result of the beating. Patch’s owners elected to have him euthanized as they did not want to risk him attacking someone else.

The defendant said that he regretted his actions, that he was “seeing red” and he wanted Patch to feel pain like his daughter had. He admitted to hitting Patch pretty hard because he did not want Patch to be put down nicely, but he did not intend on killing him.

“This case reminds us that children’s interactions with dogs should always be supervised, and children and dogs should never be left unsupervised. It is important that parents and caregivers educate their children about how to behave around dogs.” says Andrea Midgen, SPCA CEO.

“Feelings were clearly running high, but violence towards animals is never okay. SPCA sympathises with the victims of dog bites and acknowledges that dog attacks are a major societal problem that require a serious and effective long-term solution. But beating an animal blind in a violent manner is horrific and absolutely not the answer to this issue.”