Magistrate Gillian Allison said: "Having taken into account the previous good character of the defendant and that he acted proportionately at the beginning of the incident, I find that a conditional discharge is an appropriate punishment.
"I don't believe he has ever shown anything other than being a caring owner of an animal but the aggravating circumstances are that Dougal is dead and the mitigating circumstances are that Mr Jones-Reid acted impulsively to defend his own dog in a fast-moving highly-charged incident.
"Witnesses gave credible and consistent testimonies which confirm that Mr Jones-Reid was out of control during the incident.
"Dougal bit Monty and the first kick was justified. After a second kick Dougal released his hold.
"But a third kick ruptured Dougal's spleen and because of that we find that Dougal suffered unnecessarily.
"Monty was not shaken and we understand recovered fully four days later.
"Mr Jones-Reid was heard saying 'that dog bit mine so I kicked the f*** out of it'.
"Jones-Reid left the scene quickly without concern and not acting like a reasonable humane person under the circumstances.
"This evidence was a clear factor leading to our verdict."
I've been waiting for
the conclusion to this tale for a while...
The group walked a mile to their car and took Monty to a free veterinary clinic in Gillingham, where he was treated.
I wonder why a
company director would need to avail himself of free services, meant for those without means..?
RSPCA prosecutor Mrs Lewington called for Jones-Reid to be banned from keeping animals and pay £20,416.81 in costs.
But his solicitor, Nigel Weller, successfully argued: "I don't think it's appropriate that any disqualification order be made.
"There's no suggestion in this case that Mr Jones-Reid is incapable of looking after his own dog.
"In that split second he made a third kick unnecessarily and I think a conditional discharge and penalty costs are a more appropriate punishment."
I wonder if he'll pay them, or plead poverty and demand leniency? It's what bullying cowardly thugs usually do, when up against someone bigger than themselves.
These are the cases that make me wonder. Here is a guy defending his own dog and who kills the attacking dog and then get screwed by the state.
ReplyDeleteA dogs life is worth more than a humans in law. This is yet another case that makes the point that the law is an ass.
Many years ago i was walking down the street when i saw a young girls boxer dog attack a border collie ,the boxer was hanging on tight till i squeezed its bollocks! it soon let go and the collie wandered off, job done!
ReplyDeleteI'm with Lord T on this one. Whatever one may think of Jones-Reid in general, in this particular case I sympathise with him and I suspect that I might act in the same way. A feeble owner walking two dogs that were clearly not under control despite being on leads! Two kicks to get the bugger to let go and the third to make sure it didn't come back. Seems fair enough to me. Especially in the heat of the moment. And clearing off to get his own dog treated was not IMHO unreasonable.
ReplyDelete"Here is a guy defending his own dog and who kills the attacking dog..."
ReplyDeleteI'd have no issue with that if a) he had no choice (i.e. it was in the heat of struggle) and b) he'd taken responsibility for his actions. But beating the dog beyond what was needed to make it release, then fleeing like the coward he was...that's different.
"...the boxer was hanging on tight till i squeezed its bollocks!"
Does that work on bitches? ;)
"...in this particular case I sympathise with him and I suspect that I might act in the same way. A feeble owner walking two dogs that were clearly not under control despite being on leads! "
See reply to Lord T. Also, his own dog wasn't on a lead at all. If it had been, this might have been completely avoided.