The dog badly wounded in a case of animal cruelty in Carlow last September is to be put down.
Carlow District Court ruled this week to grant the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animal’s humane disposal of the dog because his injuries were so severe.
Before the court was a disposal application from local ISPCA officer Brendan Hughes stemming from an animal cruelty case which recently came before Judge William Harnett.
Gary Griffin of 29 Raheen Park, Ballyfermot, Dublin 10, was stopped at a garda checkpoint on Monday September 19 at 9.25pm in the townland of Ballinacarrig on the Wexford Road, Carlow.
Garda Fiona Ruth who had been operating the checkpoint told the court at the initial hearing of the case that she stopped a vehicle driven by Mr Griffin with four other occupants in the car that night. She then proceeded to check around the car and her attention was drawn to the rear of the vehicle.
“I looked in the back of the vehicle and saw a dog which appeared to be a pit bull. He was very badly wounded, there were lacerations to his body and there was blood. He appeared to be in distress. I asked Mr Griffin if he was the owner of the dog. He said he was. I told him the dog appeared to have been badly treated and was in distress and that he needed to be seen by a vet,” she told the court.
Gda Ruth said she seized the dog and brought him to a vet to be treated. The dog has not recovered well from the incident.
Mr Griffin’s solicitor, Eoin O’Connor, said his client had instructed him that he had been hunting foxes with his dog and that had brought about the dogs injuries.
“I would have the suspicion that he was engaged in dog fighting,” said Judge Harnett. Mr Griffin, a full time carer who earns just over €400 a week looking after his wife in Dublin, appeared in court with friends.
Over €5,000 in fees in the case are expected to go to the ISPCA.
Yesterday (Wednesday ) Judge Harnett adjourned the case to a future sitting of Carlow District Court on December 10 because an appeal on one of Mr Griffin’s previous convictions is currently ongoing. Mr Griffin who left the court with his jacket obscuring his face was released on continuing bail.
