Man beats dog to death

A St James man who admitted to beating his neighbour's dog until it died, while claiming it was because the animal killed his birds, will return to the St James Parish Court for sentencing on December 16.

Owen Simpson, of a Salter's Hill address, pleaded guilty with explanation to the charge of cruelty to an animal when he appeared in court on Wednesday.

The court was told that sometime in early November, Simpson was among a group of men who used stones to beat the complainant's dog, causing it to suffer broken bones and damaged internal organs and subsequently dying as a result. A report was made to the Spring Mount police, and Simpson was subsequently arrested and charged.

Simpson told presiding judge Natiesha Fairclough-Hylton that on the day of the incident, the dog came into his yard and killed two of his birds.

"And there was this little boy who always walks with the dog. I always warn the little boy to stop come down at my yard and set the dog on my fowl because him do it several times while him a pass, and people warn him about it same way," Simpson said.

"When he was passing with the dog, was the dog on a leash?" asked Fairclough-Hylton.

"No, your Honour," Simpson replied.

But the complainant, who was also in court, refuted Simpson's claim.

"When I spoke to him in the immediate aftermath of the incident, and I asked, 'Did you see the dog kill the duck you said he killed?', he said no, that someone told him."

Fairclough-Hylton subsequently set the matter for sentencing on December 16 and extended Simpson's bail to that date.