Woman who kicked pup will be jailed if kennel fees not paid

A LURGAN woman who admitted kicking a puppy in the street was handed a two-year conditional discharge and has been banned from keeping animals for five years.

Mary Haughian (34) walked free from Craigavon Magistrates Court yesterday, but District Judge Bernie Kelly warned her that if she fails to pay the £664 costs of kennelling the 13-weekold Staffordshire bull terrier she faces “up to four weeks imprisonment”.

Ordering her to give up a pet cat she also has, the judge added that she hoped the puppy would now be brought up “in a warm and loving home”.

“As human beings and fully fledged adults we have responsibilities in this world such as to the vulnerable, elderly and children,” Judge Kelly told Haughian. “We also have a duty to animals... that we choose to have about us — there’s a responsibility that goes with animal ownership.”

Last Wednesday Haughi-

Mary Haughian leaves Craigavon Magistrates Court

an, from Hill Street in Lurgan, pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to the puppy on October 10 when she was captured on CCTV kicking it twice as she walked along Union Street.

The video emerged on social media “of a female dragging the puppy by the lead and kicking it

twice” said a prosecuting lawyer, adding that police removed the dog from Haughian’s home and seized CCTV footage from a commercial premises.

Defence barrister Aaron Thompson said Haughian “accepts completely the wrongdoing she’s guilty of”.