Conviction quashed after complainant no-show
Wesley McCaughan
A person jailed for a canine attack has had the conviction quashed and the fees dismissed.
Wesley McCaughan was resulting from attraction the case at Craigavon County Court of Appeal, however the complainant failed to point out up.
The prosecution utilized for an adjournment, however with the telephone quantity for the complainant having gone chilly, Judge Richard Greene KC granted the attraction, quashing the convictions and sentence.
McCaughan, from Wilton Street in Belfast, was sentenced to 4 months in jail in March final 12 months over an incident on August 19, 2017, during which he was alleged to have set his rottweiler on somebody.
Earlier court docket hearings had been instructed a person walking his French bulldog alongside Glebe Walk in Lisburn “expected to see the defendant’s rottweiler, which usually jumps at the gate and barks”.
He seen the gate was open so went to select up his canine, however the rottweiler “appeared from between two parked cars and attacked the French bulldog, biting it on the back legs”.
A prosecuting lawyer instructed the court docket that after managing to free the canine, the person set his pet on high of some wheelie bins, however the Rottweiler “jumped up and grabbed it out of his arms”.
The complainant grabbed his mauled and injured canine and bumped into a close-by backyard for refuge, however the rottweiler ran after him and lunged on the canine once more, biting the person on the higher left arm, leaving 4 puncture wounds.
The attack solely ended when one other man intervened and hit the rottweiler over the pinnacle with a shovel.
The French bulldog was taken to a vet for therapy however died from its accidents, and its proprietor required stitches.
While the rottweiler was ordered to be put down, it took 5 years for an arrest warrant for McCaughan to be executed.
McCaughan claimed the animal had died “from natural causes” within the meantime.
His authorized group even invited council officers to dig up his backyard to show that the canine was lifeless.
