CONVICTED: Was justice served?
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Case #7320 Rating: 3.0 out of 5
4 month old puppy kicked to death
Cleator Moor, Cumbria, EN (UK)Incident Date: Tuesday, Jan 31, 2006
Disposition: Convicted
Defendant/Suspect: Anthony James Gunn
THE RSPCA condemned an attack on a four-month-old puppy which was kicked to death as one of the most callous and brutal cruelty cases it has come across. Inspector Martyn Fletcher is also concerned for the welfare of a five-year-old boy who witnessed the incident in Cleator Moor.
Nineteen-year-old Whitehaven man Anthony James Gunn, of Buttermere Avenue, was jailed for 160 days and banned for life from owning a dog after admitting causing unnecessary suffering to an animal.
Insp Fletcher told the News & Star: "All cruelty is bad but this is a particularly callous and brutal incident. "It's good that the court has responded in such a way and reinforced the feeling of the people of west Cumbria that this will not be tolerated." Whitehaven magistrates said the attack on the Staffordshire bull terrier puppy was so serious it merited an immediate custodial entence. They had been told that Gunn was affected by the murder of his father, scaffolder Tony Gunn, who was stabbed to death in Southampton in 2002.
Anthony Gunn and another man were seen by a five-year-old boy coming out of a house at Cleator Moor with the puppy under one of their jackets. The child then saw Gunn start kicking the puppy before throwing it into nearby bushes and leaving it for dead. The boy found the puppy crying and police were called in. The animal was taken to a vet where it was later pronounced dead. It had suffered massive internal bleeding. Mr Fletcher said the young boy must have been traumatised by the incident. "It must have been particularly traumatic for the child," he said.
The News & Star launched its Tough on Cruelty campaign last year after a spate of sickening attacks on animals in Cumbria. We campaigned, alongside the RSPCA, in support of the Government's Animal Welfare Bill. References
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