Dogsey

A BIRKENHEAD man who snapped his puppy’s legs in a brutal attack has been jailed a week after he was locked up for battering the mother of his newborn child.

Stefan McCormick, of Devonshire Road, appeared at Wirral magistrates on Friday via video link from Walton Prison where he is currently serving a 20-month sentence for assaulting his ex girlfriend earlier this year.

The 23-year-old, who was jailed for six months to run consecutively with his current sentence, had initially claimed his four-month-old Staffordshire bull Terrier “Ty” had been hurt in a road traffic accident but later admitted causing unnecessary suffering to the dog when he appeared in court in August.

When interviewed by the RSPCA, McCormick at first denied owning Ty but later said the puppy’s injuries had been caused by falling off the couch in his flat.
Chris Murphy, prosecuting on behalf of the RSPCA, told magistrates animal welfare officers had been called to McCormick's home last Christmas after a report of a dog being hit by a car.

Ty was found on a couch inside the flat covered in a blanket soaked in urine. McCormick initially said he had brought the dog inside after finding it by the roadside.

The court heard that the injuries were so severe that when vets attempted to examine it, the dog “screamed” out in pain before it “knuckled” over onto its forelimbs, collapsing head-first onto the table.

Mr Murphy said: “The vet said that in her opinion the dog’s injuries were not consistent with a dog fight or a road traffic collision.

“Both legs would have needed to be pulled apart with a great deal of force at the same time to cause the injuries.

“Falling off a couch or sofa would not have caused such injuries.”

Magistrates heard how poor Ty would have been unable to walk following the incident and had to be euthanised due to the severity of his injuries.

Sentencing McCormick to 24 weeks in prison, chair of the bench David Kelly said: “You caused unnecessary suffering to this otherwise healthy dog and as a consequence the animal had to be put down.”

McCormick was also given a lifetime ban of owning any animal.

RSPCA Inspector Anthony Joynes told the Globe he still finds it difficult to talk about the case.

He said: “It involved the most disgusting, brutal violence on a defenceless Staffy pup.

“It still troubles me to think what he went through physically and mentally. I can only hope that it troubles McCormick for a long, long time.

“People will no doubt be disappointed with the sentence and I would agree with them that even the maximum sentence for this offence is inadequate.

“However, I’m grateful for the magistrates for imposing the maximum sentence.”

Inspector Joynes added: “McCormick lied throughout this investigation saying he had found poor Ty in the road in December of last year after he had been hit by a car.

“However, it was clear that this was never the case and thankfully we have been able to uncover the truth to at least give poor Ty some justice."

Stefan McCormick is the sixth man from Wirral to be sentenced for animal cruelty this year.