5 days ago
Woman avoids jail after her starving XL bully is rescued from squalid conditions
Owner admits regrets having left dog to fend for itself in property 'covered in excrement'
A dog owner who admitted abandoning her XL bully pooch without food or water in a house 'covered' in excrement has been spared prison.
Aoife McDowell also pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to the animal, which was left to chew on cans.
She was handed a suspended prison term at Laganside Magistrates Court last week.
It was revealed during the hearing that ratepayers have been left to foot more than £1,700 in costs relating to her prosecution.
Her solicitor told the court: 'She accepts full responsibility for the offending. She says what happened to the dog has killed her inside.
'This occurred while she was in a violent and controlling relationship where she wasn't allowed to leave the house.
'She had a tooth knocked out and hair ripped out of her head. She has since left this relationship and recognises she made mistakes.
'There has been social media attention on this case and her family has been subject to abuse in the street as a result.
'She has been working with probation and is seeking to return to rehab to deal with pregabalin and cocaine issues.'
Aoife McDowell outside Laganside Courts (Luke Jervis/Belfast Telegraph)
Sentencing her for what he described as a 'serious matter', District Judge George Conner handed McDowell eight months in prison, suspended for 12 months.
He also barred her from keeping animals for 10 years.
Belfast City Council made an application for costs totalling £2,179 but Judge Conner said he had to be 'realistic' about what she could afford and ordered her to repay £400.
Previous hearings were told how a neighbour near McDowell's old address on Bell Steel Manor, west Belfast, contacted animal welfare last November after hearing prolonged barking and crying.
The neighbour told council staff the dog had been left unattended in the house for nine days, apart from a 15-minute visit.
When welfare officers attended the property, they found the dog in a 'very poor' condition, an earlier court was told.
They said the animal was 'barking inside without food or water available' and they left a note for McDowell to contact them immediately.
XL bully (Stock image)
The animal welfare officers visited the following day, and again several days later, only to find the dog left in the same conditions and without access to either food or water.
After gaining a court order to access the property, they were confronted with a horrifying scene.
'Every room was covered in faeces, rubbish and clutter,' prosecutors said, with the animal having 'chewed through furniture and tins of food' in search of sustenance.
They continued: 'Chewing the tins may have damaged the animal's mouth, and a vet assessed the dog as experiencing suffering.'
McDowell, now with an address in Woodside in Lisburn, was one of four people convicted of XL bully-related offences at Belfast Magistrates Court on the same day by the City Council. Three men were each fined hundreds of pounds for XL bully attacks on other dogs.
Aoife McDowell (Luke Jervis/Belfast Telegraph)
News in 90 Seconds - May 29th
