Man banned from keeping animals after beating dog and causing another to suffer

A man has been disqualified from keeping animals for 10 years after he was caught on camera beating his dog.

Matthew Luke Russell, aged 21, of Underhill Crescent, Abergavenny, appeared at Newport Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday 23 July for a trial.

He faced two offences, in that he caused unnecessary suffering to a pitbull type dog called Brad, by inflicting blunt force trauma and physical violence, and secondly caused unnecessary suffering to a pitbull type dog called Mercy (pictured) by failing to provide veterinary care and attention for her chronic ear disease.

Sentence

Russell pleaded guilty to the first offence (on 23 July) and he was found guilty of the second offence.

He was sentenced to 12 weeks prison sentence suspended for 12 months for the first offence and 14 weeks – also suspended – for the second offence to run consecutively.

He was ordered to undertake 20 Rehabilitation Activity Requirement days, 180 hours of unpaid work, pay costs of £650 and a £154 victim surcharge.

He was also handed a 10-year disqualification ban on all animals.

“Viral” video

In a statement, provided to the court by RSPCA Deputy Chief Inspector (DCI) Gemma Cooper, she said she met with Gwent Police at Underhill Crescent on 3 August 2023 who were executing a warrant at the property.

It followed a video that had been released on social media showing Russell beating his dog, Brad.

It shows him striking the dog six times with his right fist and then pulling Brad by his collar on its back legs a few yards before striking him on his head a seventh time.

DCI Cooper was told by his mother that he had not been home for a couple of days due to the video which had gone “viral” and three men had come to the address and had rehomed three of his dogs. The only dog left was Mercy.

“She had scabs and patches of fur missing throughout the trunk of her body,” said DCI Cooper.

“Her ears were cropped which made it obvious to see she had a really bad ear infection in both ears. I scanned her for a microchip but I could not find one.

“I was advised by my colleague Animal Rescue Officer Sian Burton that she was found in a shed with no access to food, water or a comfortable resting area. When provided with a bowl of water I witnessed Mercy drinking the entire bowl.  She was extremely thirsty.”

Mercy was seized by police and was taken to RSPCA Merthyr Tydfil Veterinary Clinic for a vet examination, before being transferred into the care of Gwent Police.

Suffering

In a statement provided to the court, the vet said her weight was good for her size but she had many lesions over her body with fur loss with a number of them having scabbing in the centre and all of her feet were reddened between the toes.

He said: “Her ears had been cropped, but both ears showed signs of self-trauma with reddening, fur loss and evidence of scratching on the backs of the remains of the ear flaps.

“Looking into the canals, the linings were thickened with crusting, wax and reddening, this was of moderate severity in the right ear but much more severe in the left ear with no obvious opening to the ear canal visible.

“These changes would have been obvious to anyone as should the fact that the dog should have had veterinary care sought for them. The changes present indicate a long standing ear problem that has not received the necessary treatment and would have taken at least four weeks, probably longer to reach their current state.

“During this time the dog would have been suffering unnecessarily from the problem and the owner has failed in his duty of care to source the treatment his dog needed.”

“Mental distress”

An expert witness report written by a veterinary surgeon, provided to the court, said that Brad was “caused to suffer physical pain and mental distress as a consequence of the actions of Mr Russell in beating the dog”.

He added that Mercy was also “caused to suffer due to a failure to seek veterinary attention for an ongoing and chronic ear disease for a period of at least four weeks”.

Following the case, DCI Cooper, said: “We’d like to thank Gwent Police along with the witness who provided the video as evidence to what has been a very upsetting case.”