Briton jailed for hitting pet dog

LONDON - A dog owner in Britain has been jailed for publicly attacking his pet, termed by a court as an appalling public display of violence, horrific and most shameful behaviour.

Simeon Major, 19, poked his bull terrier with an umbrella and kicked her four to five times as he showed off to friends in Luton, Bedfordshire, 46 km from London.

He dragged the seven-month-old female dog up on to a wall and punched her, sending her falling to the ground, Sky News reported.

The evidence was a four-minute CCTV footage that was played to magistrates.

“He was goading the animal with an umbrella. There were four or five kicks to the dog. The dog showed no aggression to the defendant whatsoever,” prosecutor Mark Jones told the court in Luton.

When questioned by the Royal Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA), Major said: “I just don’t know what was going through my brain… it was just a mistake.” He pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to an animal.

Kajal Doshi, defending Major, told the court the defendant could not understand why he carried out the attack. “He was showing off before other people,” she said.

Judge Carolyn Mellanby sentenced him to 16 weeks in a young offenders’ institution and disqualified him from keeping any animal for 10 years.

“This was a most appalling public display of violence. It was quite horrific. You punched and kicked a defenceless animal over a significant period of time in front of other people. It was most shameful behaviour,” she said.