A man who killed his neighbour’s dog with an axe when it turned vicious has escaped a jail sentence.
Kevin Dixon, 35, of Castle Avenue, Newsome, had denied cruelty but was convicted after a trial.
Dixon axed the dog to death after it bit several people including a four-year-old boy – but he claimed he didn’t cause unnecessary suffering because the animal was dead within 10 seconds.
He struck the Akita-type dog Tempa seven times in pitch black on land near Newsome Road South on May 16 last year.
In a rare case brought by animal charity the RSPCA, Dixon was convicted of cruelty by killing the dog “in an inappropriate and inhumane manner.” It wasn’t that he’d killed the dog but the way he did it.
Kirklees magistrates accepted Dixon’s remorse and imposed an 18-week jail sentence suspended for two years.
He was also issued with a six week 7pm-7am daily curfew and was ordered to pay £1,500 towards the £2,214.98 RSPCA costs, which included expert witnesses at the trial.
Outside court Dixon told the Examiner the dog had bitten a four-year-old boy and then at least three other people the previous week.
Neighbours had reported the animal to the RSPCA but nothing was done.
“I feel stitched up,” he said. “The RSPCA just seemed out to get me but I think they have been neglectful in their duties. I have no faith in the RSPCA.
“I love animals but this dog was biting one person every week. Even if the RSPCA gives a dog a lethal injection in its neck it will cause suffering, even for a nano-second.”
Magistrates also banned Dixon from owning or looking after animals for 10 years.
The trial was told how the dog’s owner Amanda Hamer had been unable to walk the dog after an accident last year and Dixon offered to take it out.
Tempa had a history of biting people and Dixon took an axe to it when it bit another woman Stacy Mudd after a party at Ms Hamer’s home.
Dixon said he feared the dog may bite children staying there overnight.
Miss Catherine McCullagh, for Dixon, said her client had always accepted responsibility for the dog’s death and had co-operated with police, showing them where the animal was buried.
“He is regretful and it was not his intention to cause suffering to the animal.
“Clearly Mr Dixon’s actions are undesirable, if I can put it that way, as well as being found to be illegal.
“It was not the act of killing the animal. It was the causing of unnecessary suffering.
“The suffering would have been relatively short, a maximum of 10 seconds.”
Miss McCullagh handed magistrates a cutting from the Examiner reporting how a four-year-old boy was attacked by the same dog.
She said Dixon feared for children he thought were staying overnight and his concerns reached a “critical point.”
Miss McCullagh told the magistrates: “You may think it was poor thinking from Mr Dixon but he felt he had no other option.”
Dixon claimed the owner refused to have the dog muzzled or put down by a vet.
Chairman of the magistrates Mrs Sue Collins said Dixon’s actions were “unacceptable” but she added: “We accept he is remorseful and did not intend to cause harm.”
