A Monaghan man, who drowned a 12-week old puppy in a bucket while he was drunk, avoided a jail sentence on Wednesday.
Joe Lynch (48) of Mullaghmatt, Monaghan, pleaded guilty at the District Court in Monaghan to causing the death of the puppy, contrary to the Animal Health and Welfare Act 2013 at his home on June 9th, 2016.
Garda Inspector Ronan Carey said gardaí had been called to the home of Lynch, where it was reported he had killed a puppy.
They arrived at the scene to find Lynch extremely intoxicated and unable to speak. They spoke to Bernadette O’Leary, who showed them the dead pup, and told them that Lynch had drowned it by holding it in a small bucket of water. He then threw the lifeless animal in the garden.
The court was told Lynch had previous convictions for a breaches of public order in 2012 and 2007, and for road traffic matters in 2005, but had no previous relevant to the offence now before the court.
Judge Denis McLoughlin asked if Lynch would be willing to do community service, and advised solicitor Damien Rudden that there "should only be one answer" to that question.
After being informed later in the hearing that Lynch was willing to carry out this work, and that a probation officer had deemed him suitable for it, a 240-hour community service order was imposed as an alternative to a three-month jail sentence.