Ex-Dale star hit dog ‘for its own safety’
ADOG owner has admitted abusing his pet after being caught on camera hitting him...but claimed he was doing it for the animal’s own safety.
Former Rochdale AFC player Jason Smart was hauled before the courts and now faces jail or a hefty fine.
Footage posted online showed him slapping his four-year-old Staffordshire bull terrier Frank twice in Castleton.
He pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to an animal before Manchester magistrates, following the incident last October 23 and now awaits sentence.
The maximum punishment available to magistrates is six months in prison or a £20,000 fine.
The footage was filmed by shop owner Paula O’Connor and, after being viewed more than 34,000 times online, it was reported to the RSPCA.
She spotted the dog outside her pet shop Mane N Tails and tried to get the animal to come inside as she thought it was a stray, as it did not have a lead and was not with an owner at the time.
Ms O’Connor said she heard a man shout before Smart emerged and hit the dog twice.
She said: “Don’t hit the dog like that.”
But Smart, 47, replied: “Shut up you stupid f***, it’s my dog, I can do what I want’.
Smart claimed he ‘panicked’ and hit the dog to chastise it because he feared it would run out onto the road.
The court heard that he had suffered serious injuries in February last year after being hit by a car while going into the road trying to protect his dog.
Smart said he sustained fractures to his skull, leg and collarbone during the incident, in which the dog emerged unscathed.
Prosecuting, Anna McDonald said unlike humans, the animal would not have understood the reason why it was being hit.
She said: “Punishing a dog can case it pain and suffering.
“Dogs get to know the people they regularly associate with and can become confused and distressed.
“There were no significant physical injuries apparent but the dog will have suffered pain as a result of being hit in the head twice.”
Smart, who lives in Manchester Road, Castleton, said the dog had been let out of the house accidentally after it followed a visitor.
He had gone to chase it, Smart said and was worried that it may get run over by a car.
Sentencing was adjourned for a pre-sentence report to be drawn up to assist magistrates when Smart next appears on March 23.
He was granted unconditional bail.
Smart played for Rochdale in the mid-to-late 1980s.
A defender, the YTS product made over 100 appearances for Dale in a four-year spell beginning in 1985.
He signed for Crewe Alexandra in 1989 for a fee of around £40,000 and stayed there for around three years.
Released in 1992, he had brief spells at Witton Albion and Hyde United before returning to play Sunday League football for Castleton Top House.