A HIGH Court ruling to euthanise a Dublin man instead of his dog in a flagship case after it attacked a pedestrian has been welcomed by animal lovers across the world.
“You shouldn’t have been allowed own a budgie, never mind a Staffordshire bull terrier,” defendant Dermot Ryan was told by Judge Paul Riordan after details emerged of how the 26-year-old would purposely antagonise the dog in a bid to ‘make him look hard’ while walking around the streets with his top off.
“My client is a skinny little runt who couldn’t beat eggs with a sledgehammer and likes to act like he’s the big man about town, so this was his obvious choice of dog for him to buy illegally from another insecure male friend,” defending barrister John Leemy pleaded with the court.
The court heard how Ryan ‘sicked’ his dog Tyson at a pedestrian who refused to give him the butt of their cigarette before then biting her leg.
“She was horsing into a bleedin’ Silk Cut 100, judge, there was loads left on it and the mangey bitch told me to piss off, so Tyson got mad and nipped her in the leg – he was only protecting’ me is all,” Ryan stated, before spitting onto the courtroom floor.
Considering the defendants 467 previous convictions, Judge Riordan handed down the world’s first ever death sentence for a dangerous dog breed owner, citing the fact ‘it’s not the dog, it’s the owner at fault here’, before calling on the government and local councils to actually enforce laws that punish irresponsible idiots who own restricted-breeds.
Ryan was later euthanised by a court-appointed vet.