DISGRACEFUL AND HEINOUS
Beast jailed two years for butchering and cooking his dog
Collie was killed and then fed to another dog A “PSYCHOPATH” former mental health nurse who killed, butchered and cooked his dog has been jailed for two years.
Dominic O’connor, 28, used a lead to strangle the helpless pet, and then chopped it up and fed it to his other dog last December.
He was yesterday banned from keeping an animal for life by a judge at Downpatrick Crown Court because of his “disgraceful” and “heinous” behaviour.
As he was led away to begin his sentence, tearful onlooker Christina Jenkins shouted: “Burn in hell, demon. You are the epitome of evil.”
Judge Piers Grant said after release O’connor will serve another two years under licence.
He told the defendant: “The killing of this innocent, vulnerable dog has clearly been your calculation for some time.
“It is clear you were determined to kill this dog and in doing so inflict on this creature serious cruelty.
“In any view this behaviour barbaric.”
O’connor bought the dog on the Gumtree website from someone “misled” into expecting the animal would be well-nurtured and looked after, the judge said.
Instead, he choked it to death at his home in Roden Street in Kircubbin, Co Down, at the second attempt after switching leads.
Judge Grant said the accused shaved, butchered and cooked its body and used it as pet food for his other dog, Shadow.
He added: “It is appropriate to recognise the level of cruelty inflicted on this poor animal is very much at the upper end of the spectrum for this type of offending.” The judge said the defendant demonstrated no remorse and posed a high risk of reoffending, but pre-sentence reports showed he did not represent a serious risk of harm to others.
He added it was “inevitable” the jury would convict him of one count of causing unnecessary suffering to an animal.
No evidence was produced on O’connor’s own behalf.
It would be easy to consider his behaviour bizarre and indicative of mental illness offering some excuse, the judge said, but his legal team had not produced any reliable evidence about his mental health.
He has 23 unrelated previous convictions, some of which demonstrated preparedness to act irresponsibly, the judge added.
DOWNPATRICK YESTERDAY
is
It’s clear you were determined to inflict serious cruelty
JUDGE PIERS GRANT