Western Daily Press (Saturday)
Jail for man caught on camera dragging dog behind e-scooter
AMAN who was caught on a doorbell camera dragging his XL bully dog along while riding an electric scooter has been jailed.
Lucas Slim-Fitzpatrick was locked up for 19 months after he was convicted of inflicting serious injuries to the canine.
The defendant was prosecuted by the RSPCA after the tan and white 10-month-old bulldog called Luna was assaulted and neglected by the defendant in Plymouth, Devon, between June and December 2022.
A vet who examined Luna said the dog had suffered blunt force trauma injuries in at least three separate incidents.
Ring doorbell footage, which captured Slim-Fitzpatrick on the scooter just before one of the assaults, was used to help secure the prosecution.
Slim-Fitzpatrick, 27, of Westonsuper-Mare, pleaded guilty to three offences under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 at an earlier hearing on September 18 and was committed to Bristol Crown Court for sentencing.
A judge said he had shown little remorse for his actions and told him: “This was prolonged, lengthy violence towards an animal in your care who should have been protected by you rather than becoming your punchbag.”
He handed Slim-Fitzpatrick a 14-month custodial sentences to run concurrently on each of the three animal welfare offences and a further five-month prison sentence, to be served consecutively, for his breach of a suspended sentence imposed for an unrelated matter. The judge also banned the defendant from owning animals for 20 years.
The RSPCA was presented with the doorbell footage which showed the defendant riding his electric scooter along a service road in the Mutley district of Plymouth, while holding the lead of the dog who was trying to follow behind on the morning of November 30 last year.
A witness who contacted the police said he heard an animal in distress at the back of Slim-Fitzpatrick’s former address in Greenbank Road in Plymouth minutes later.
The court was told the witness saw the defendant “staggering around” on the scooter, talking aggressively to the dog before picking her up with both hands and throwing her six feet in the direction of a wall.
Slim-Fitzpatrick was later arrested and Luna, who was found limping and unable to bear weight on one of her back legs, was taken to a vets, where an examination found her left hip and pelvis were broken. She had suffered fractures to her jaw and cheek bone as well as her wrists. While she also had three broken ribs, three broken teeth and a badly bloodshot eye.
When he was interviewed by police in December 2022, the defendant claimed Luna’s injuries were caused by being struck by a car and kicked by a horse. He said her bloodshot eye was the result of her being attacked by a Jack Russell dog.
But RSPCA prosecutor Gregory Gordon told the court: “Expert veterinary evidence disproved the defendant’s various claims of accidental injury to Luna. Radiographs indicated Luna’s different fractures were at different stages of healing, meaning that the injuries occurred on different dates. It has not been possible to identify the number of separate incidents from the injuries alone, but records indicate that injuries were sustained by Luna on three separate occasions, including June 29 and August 2 last year.”
When RSPCA Inspector Miranda Albison attempted to contact the defendant in March and July this year to interview him about the allegations, he claimed he did not have a fixed address, but that he was staying with a friend in Birmingham.
In a statement read to the court, the inspector said: “The defendant said he was aware the RSPCA had been visiting his address, but that he was not prepared to be interviewed. I told him Luna was still in our care as he had not responded to my request to confirm we could rehome her. He became angry and said he thought he had already given permission and the dog was no longer anything to do with him.”
Luna was signed over to the RSPCA on July 5 this year and has recovered from her ordeal in the care of the animal charity. She has been rehomed after undergoing surgery and extensive rehabilitation work to regain the use of her back leg.
Speaking after the sentencing, Ms Albison said: “The assaults carried out by this defendant on this poor dog started when she was a 10-week old puppy and continued until she was 10 months old. It was absolutely horrific as she was repeatedly beaten and suffered many fractures.
“Happily she is now doing very well and we have been able to rehome her.”