A District Court yesterday heard how a dog had to have her right eye removed following a beating by her former owner.
Michael Gaughran (49), of Woodtown, Drumconrath, Co Meath, admitted the cruelty to animals offence at Woodtown on February 19th this year when he appeared before Ardee District Court yesterday.
Garda Barry Crudden said he went to Woodtown on that date after an inspector with the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals contacted him to say he had received a report of a dog being beaten.
At Woodtown, the garda spoke to two men, who said they had witnessed Gaughran beat the dog with a broom handle. He saw the dog cowering in the corner, and spoke to Gaughran, who said the dog had attacked a goose and he had hit her "a couple of taps of a stick".
The garda seized the dog under the Protection of Animals Act, and handed her over to the ISPCA inspector, Mr Conor Dowling.
Solicitor Mr Richard McDonnell said the dog had cuts to the eye and was otherwise well fed. It had also attacked and killed a lamb a year before.
In reply to Judge Flann Brennan, the garda said the dog's eye had to be removed following the incident.
Mr McDonnell said the dog had a defective eye anyway, but did not know if it was the same eye that was removed.
Veterinary inspector Mr Finbar Heslin told the court he examined the dog, and said both eyes were affected by blunt trauma.
The left eye had severe haemorrhaging, the cornea was lacerated and the top of the cornea surface had been removed. There was internal damage to the right eye and evidence of previous trauma. The reason it (right eye) was removed "was the result of damage inflicted just previous".
Gaughran's solicitor said his client has a debilitating illness and was on disability income of just €124 a week. He added that the ISPCA was not seeking to have him prevented from keeping animals.
Judge Brennan convicted Gaughran, and imposed a fine of €200.
After the court case, the ISPCA inspector said the damage to the dog's eye was not immediately known as the white of the eye, the so-called third eyelid, had been covering it.