Why Is This Case Even Being Heard By Magistrates?

The guilty man, Mahmood Keshavarzi, is aged 37 and a former security guard. He was convicted of the offences for which he is to be sentenced last Monday and was warned that he could be jailed.

Keshavarzi claimed he had not been the thief and did not know how Zeus had ended up below his kitchen window.

The dog suffered severe trauma and was pronounced dead after being taken to a PDSA branch in Oldbury.

I've been waiting to see the conclusion to this strange story.

Like the dog's owner, I'm astounded that it hasn't been charged as a much more serious offence, and the lack of any stated motive (plus the killer's job as a security guard) made me wonder if there was history between the two men.

Well....I'm left wondering:

Kamar Uddin, who speaks for Keshavarzi, is now on his feet, He tells the court was dependent on drugs and had never done anything like it before.

Mr Uddin says Keshavarzi acted on “emotion” but the offences were “not premeditated” and he took the dog on impulse.

So, is that somehow more comforting? That there's no link, and this is a random attack by a junkie?

That it could have been anyone's dog, or worse?

Mr Uddin tells the court that no purpose would be served by sending his client to prison and he needed help to address his “emotional and mental issues.”

He urges the bench to impose an alternative punishment and asks them to look at giving Keshavarzi a community order rather than imprisonment.

I know he's just doing his job, spouting the usual boilerplate crap they have to spout, but does anyone get the impression that Mr Uddin lives nowhere near Mr Keshavarzi, and never will?

The chairman of the magistrates says the bench no alternative but to send him to prison for 26 weeks. He must also pay compensation of £800.

I predict the dog's owner will never see a penny. But maybe justice will be served in other ways.

A 13-year-old boy saw Keshavarzi take 15-month-old Zeus from a garden and drag the dog by its collar towards the rear entrance of Drews House in Druids Heath.

The teenager called the police who were unable to locate the dog, Simon Brownsey, prosecuting, said.

Let's hope that if Mr Keshavarski survives prison and takes it into his head to throw a child off the top of a block of flats, West Midlands Police apply themselves a little more diligently.