A 33-year-old man has been banned from owning or having contact with animals after he viciously beat a dog in front of shocked pub-goers and the attack was caught on CCTV.
Daniel McCreedy, 33, from Brighton, has been given a 12-month Community Rehabilitation Order and been banned from owning or having any contact with any animal until further notice.
In a 20-minute long video, shown to the court, McCreedy was seen repeatedly punching and kicking the poor dog, choking him and dragging him across the floor by his collar and at one point he even poured some of his pint of beer over the poor animal.
He was sentenced today after admitting causing unnecessary suffering to a dog in his care by subjecting him to a prolonged period of abuse which was caught on camera by a pub’s CCTV. He was also given a curfew order restricting him to his home address from 8pm to 8am every day, effective for the next 8 weeks, and will have to pay £300 in costs and £85 in court surcharges.
McCreedy (DOB 11/05/1984) of Campbell Road, Brighton, appeared before Hastings Magistrates’ Court on Friday 11 August where he pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to a cross breed dog called Babe, (also known as Tyson) by subjecting him unreasonable physical violence, contrary to the Animal Welfare Act on 13 April this year at the Royal Oak public house in Lewes.
The incident was reported in April when the shocked staff of the Royal Oak public house were told there was a man in their beer garden abusing a dog. The owners asked the man to immediately leave the pub, but it was only later when viewing the CCTV footage they realised the extent of the abuse.
The shocked pub staff posted a short segment of the footage on the internet in a bid to identify the man and reported it to the police and RSPCA. A number of people came forward to positively identify McCreedy as the man responsible in the footage.
Babe, did not belong to McCreedy, but he had been looking after him. Once his owner was traced the dog was examined by the RSPCA and a vet and fortunately did not have any significant injuries as a result of the abuse. Babe now remains in the care of his owner, who was horrified to discover what had happened to his dog.
RSPCA Inspector Tony Woodley, who led the investigation said: “Watching this video is just heart-breaking and stomach churning. This dog is completely subordinate and this prolonged period of abuse is totally unwarranted and frankly disturbing.
“The poor dog is just absolutely terrified and also confused, one minute McCreedy is hitting him repeatedly in the head, the next minute he is cuddling the dog in a bid to pretend he is a caring animal owner. It is just horrific to see and a vet who watched this said that in their opinion there is no doubt this dog was caused pain and suffering during this sustained attack.
“It is perhaps lucky that the poor dog did not suffer any lasting physical injuries as a result of this attack, but he would clearly have been severely traumatised by McCreedy’s actions.
“I would like to thank everyone who has helped to bring this case to court including the witnesses who gave statements and of course the landlady who provided us with the CCTV which quickly led to McCreedy’s identification.”
This investigation was originally a joint investigation between Sussex Police and the RSPCA but was handed over to the RSPCA due to the charity’s expertise and knowledge of animal welfare investigations.
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