Animal Watch
Guilty of 'barbaric act of cowardice' on dog
A MAN who stabbed his pet dog to death with a 9in knife has been accused of carrying out a "barbaric act of cowardice."
Trevor Joseph Hind, 27, has been warned that he faces jail after magistrates dismissed his claim that he acted in self defence.
The court was told that the black and white bull terrier, called Levi, was stabbed from behind.
Hind had denied a charge of causing unnecessary suffering to the dog by stabbing, but after a trial, was found guilty by magistrates in Bishop Auckland yesterday.
Speaking after the case, RSPCA inspector Gary Palmer said: "I think it's a barbaric act of cowardice. He's taken his anger out on a defenceless animal."
The court was told that two-year-old Levi died in the arms of Hind's partner, Cassandra Middleton, outside the couple's flat in Melland Street, Darlington.
Police found the dog's bleeding body and the blood-stained knife when they arrived at the house on the evening of April 27, last year.
Hind, who had drunk two litres of strong cider that night, admitted killing the dog, but insisted he was acting in self-defence after it growled at him and bared its teeth.
Kevin Campbell, prosecuting for the RSPCA, said he had stabbed the dog from behind because he was "full of anger and full of drink".
Hind told the court he had thrown Levi into the kitchen, intending to discipline it after fighting with his other dog, eight-year-old Buzz, for the third time that day and injuring Miss Middleton as she tried to separate them.
But he said the dog's reaction made him fear for his safety and he picked up the first thing that came to hand from the kitchen drainage board.
"I wasn't intending to kill it - I was attempting to disable it," he said.
"It was behaving uncharacteristically. It had growled at me before, but never shown its teeth before. I thought it meant business."
Levi died from internal bleeding.
Evidence from both the pathologist and the vet who examined the dog suggested he had been stabbed from behind.
But Hind said: "I was frightened. I'd seen what this dog could do and I didn't want it to do it to me.
"I grabbed behind me where the knife was and lunged at it.
"I wasn't thinking. I just went for it. I wish I had dealt with it differently, but at that moment in time I felt in grave danger and that's why I did it."
After retiring to consider a verdict, chairman of the bench John Welsh said: "We've decided you stabbed the dog intentionally from behind and were not, at the time, acting in self-defence."
Sentencing was adjourned until March 14 at Newton Aycliffe Magistrates' Court, by which time a pre-sentence report with a custody steering will have been completed.
2:02am Saturday 23rd February 2008
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