A man (31) has been given a 12-month suspended jail sentence after he was convicted of causing unnecessary suffering to a dog.
The dog had part of his nose bitten off and had his face scarred and cut.
James O’Reilly was also ordered by Judge Deirdre Browne at Clonmel Circuit Criminal Court to surrender the injured dog, a three-year-old male Patterdale Terrier, to the NSPCA, and he also was banned by the judge from keeping dogs for life except for two family pets.
O’Reilly from Bianconi Drive, Clonmel, Co Tipperary, had pleaded guilty to causing or permitting unnecessary suffering to the dog or endangering or neglecting its health or welfare contrary to section 12 and section 52 of the Animal Health and Welfare Act 2013.
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Alice Lacey, a senior animal welfare inspector with the NSPCA, told the court how she had been called by gardaí on October 8th, 2024, to O’Reilly’s home where she found nine dogs including both adult and juvenile Patterdale Terriers in pens in a shed at the rear of the property.
Most of the dogs were in a reasonable condition, but one male Patterdale, who was housed in a pen on his own, was cowering under a raised bed area at the back of the pen, said Lacey, adding that O’Reilly was not home at the time.
“I could see immediately that there were extreme and horrific facial injuries on this dog ... As I walked closer and got down on my knees, I could see firstly that the dog’s nose looked like it was partially ripped off with flesh and tissue exposed around the nostril area.
“The rest of his face was scarred and scabby while he also had some open cuts – both of his eyes were oozing a discharge and both eyes were swollen – he had conjunctivitis and one eye was so one so swollen that he couldn’t open it ... the dog was shaking uncontrollably.”
O’Reilly came home and she cautioned him before telling him that she was removing the Patterdale due to his extensive facial injuries and then asked him what had happened to the dog, but he refused to tell her what had happened, replying: “No Comment.”
O’Reilly became irate when she asked him about the daily routine of all his dogs and he showed her medication that he had on a windowsill and produced an invoice for €340 from Suirside Veterinary Clinic in Carrick-on-Suir, but it didn’t specify which dogs were treated.
She said she brought the terrier to City Vets in Waterford where vet Shauna O’Brien examined the Patterdale and was of the view the most recent injuries including the ripped nostril were two to three weeks old while the other injuries were older and more likely due to repeated trauma.
Questioned by prosecution barrister David Humphries, Lacey said that from her experience the Patterdale’s injuries, including the ripped nostril, were most likely caused by a wild animal attack, adding that it was not often that she came across facial trauma as bad as this.
She said the dog could not be rehomed because O’Reilly had not surrendered him, so the NSPCA had to kennel him for 534 days at a total cost of €5,949, and although part of his nostril was still missing, “he has made a really good recovery – he is a wonderful dog.”
Cross-examined by defence barrister Suzanne Gorey, Lacey accepted that the injuries had not been caused deliberately by O’Reilly, and the barrister said it was her client’s instructions the dog had slipped its leash one day while out walking and was attacked by a fox.
Gorey pleaded for leniency, saying her client had pleaded guilty at an early stage, had no previous convictions for animal cruelty and was the father of a six young children with limited financial means as he was unable to read or write and had poor prospects of employment.
The judge said it was “a deplorable case” and she didn’t believe O’Reilly’s version that the dog’s injuries were caused by a once-off attack by a fox as many of the wounds were much older and she accepted the vet’s view that they were the result of repeated trauma.
However, she accepted he had not intentionally caused the injuries, and he had pleaded guilty which was a significant mitigation.
She imposed a 12-month sentence but suspended it before granting an order for forfeiture and banning him from owning other dogs save for two family pets.
