Latest news with #Wolohan
The Courier
15-05-2025
- The Courier
Pet ban for neglectful Fife owner after underfed bulldog put to sleep
A Glenrothes man's bulldog had to be put to sleep after police found it malnourished, infected and shut away alone in a filthy bedroom. Steven Wolohan admitted causing the dog called Hugo unnecessary suffering at his home in Dunbeath Drive. A police officer carrying out a welfare check alerted the Scottish SPCA after finding the 27-year-old's pet in a room strewn with faeces. Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court heard that Wolohan's home had been inspected by the animal welfare charity about a year earlier. Wolohan appeared in the dock to admit a charge under Section 19 of the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006. The offender, who according to his lawyer 'wasn't keeping on top of his own affairs,' was spared jail, but banned from keeping animals for five years. Prosecutor Christine Allan said a SSPCA inspector received an anonymous call on June 17, 2022. The caller reported a dog in poor condition which was often left alone for long periods and never walked. Wolohan was reluctant to let the inspector inside his home, but agreed to bring seven-year-old Hugo to the door. The dog was in good condition but had an ear issue which Wolohan was advised to have treated by a vet. When the inspector returned 11 days later, Wolohan revealed he hadn't taken Hugo to a vet as he had to pay for dog food instead. He was given a large bag of dog food by the inspector but subsequently stopped responding to calls and cards. More than a year later, the charity was again asked to attend at Wolohan's home – this time by a police officer carrying out a welfare check. The PC reported that on August 4 in 2023, Hugo was found shut away in a bedroom in poor condition and was in a home full of mouldy faeces. The kitchen was dirty with rubbish and appliances strewn around the floor, the hallway had various items rolled up and in the living room there were multiple piles of faeces, including diarrhoea. The property smelled of urine and faeces. Hugo was found lying on a dirty bed in an upstairs bedroom with rubbish and beer cans on the floor. He was removed from the property while police continued to search for Wolohan. Hugo was taken to St Clair Veterinary Practice in Kirkcaldy and assessed by Dr Melanie Tardif-Faessel. She found that although Hugo should have weighed between 35 and 40kg, he was in fact only 28kg. He scored 2/9 on the Purina scale, his ribs were visible and he'd lost muscle mass. Hugo had sores on his paw pads, mild periodontal disease and dandruff. His ear condition had worsened and it wasn't possible to examine inside with an otoscope due to the discharge of pus and abnormal narrowing. The vet found Hugo's dietary needs hadn't been being met for weeks. He continued to receive treatment at the Scottish SPCA clinic but a decision was taken later that month to euthanise him. At an earlier hearing, Wolohan admitted that between June 17 2022 and August 4 2023, he caused a dog he was responsible for to suffer unnecessarily by an act or omission. He failed to provide the dog with appropriate care and treatment, in particular adequate nutrition whereby the dog lost body weight. He also failed to obtain vet advice or treatment for the dog for a number of health conditions including ulcerated ear canals, body weight loss and loss of muscle mass. Prosecutors previously accepted Wolohan's not guilty plea to a second charge of failing to take reasonable steps in the circumstances to ensure the welfare of the dog. Wolohan's lawyer Martin McGuire said: 'It's fair to say during the course of 2022 and 2023, Mr Wolohan's personal circumstances had deteriorated. 'He wasn't taking care of himself, let alone the dog. 'Mr Wolohan found himself in a situation where he was drinking to excess and there was substance misuse. 'He wasn't maintaining his own affairs. 'He was in a state of depression, he simply wasn't able to progress matters. 'As he understands, the court can impose a period of imprisonment today. The matter does clearly reach the custody threshold.' Sheriff Mark Allan imposed a direct alternative to custody, ordering Wolohan to complete 150 hours of unpaid work over the next year. He also placed Wolohan under supervision for a year and on an 8pm to 6am curfew every night for six months. The sheriff also furnished Wolohan with a pet ban. He said: 'Mr McGuire is absolutely right to acknowledge on your behalf that this offence passes the custody threshold. 'But for the fact that there is available a significant and stringent package of community-based disposals, you would otherwise be going to prison for this offence. 'Because of the severity of the matter before the court, the harm and suffering caused to this animal, you will be disqualified from owning or keeping an animal for a period of five years from today.'
Irish Times
04-05-2025
- Politics
- Irish Times
‘Albo, Albo, Albo': Margin of Labor's landslide win in Australian election a big surprise
The Labor Party has been returned in a historic, landslide win in Australia's federal election, with the opposition leader losing his own seat – as did the last remaining Irish-born MP in parliament. While all recent polling said Labor, under prime minister Anthony Albanese, was likely to retain power, nobody predicted the extent of the victory, which could see it hold up to 93 of the parliament's 150 seats. The Liberal-National coalition – which is the conservative opposition alliance – could end up with just 43 seats and has to find a new leader after Peter Dutton lost his seat in an 8.41 per cent swing to Labor's Ali France. After preferences are distributed, the national result will be around 54.5 per cent for Labor versus 45.5 per for the coalition, a swing of 2.4 per cent to Labor since the 2022 election. No previous Labor leader has ever won such an emphatic victory. READ MORE One of Dutton's most likely successors, Dublin-born Keith Wolohan, also lost his Melbourne seat, wiping out part of the next generation along with the dead wood. Wolohan, who served three tours of duty in Afghanistan as a commando and also worked as a barrister, still has a slight Irish accent, despite having moved to Australia with his family when aged 11. In recent decades, Irish-born Australian MPs and senators have almost all been in the Labor Party. Wolohan bucked that trend but, having lost his seat, there are now no Irish people left in the federal parliament. Speaking on Sunday morning, Wolohan said that at 47 he still feels 'relatively young', so a comeback attempt in 2028 is likely. At the start of ABC's election coverage on Saturday night, treasurer Jim Chalmers said he was nervous and pessimistic about the result until the trends start to appear about 90 minutes into the count. He was on the money as by 7.30pm (polls closed in every state and territory at 6pm) it was clear the swing was on. Less than an hour later, election guru Antony Green called it for Labor. But even then, the sheer size of the win wasn't evident. By Sunday morning, back on ABC, Chalmers said the victory 'was beyond even our most optimistic expectations'. Albanese started Saturday talking to the media at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, where he repeated a version of an Aussie rules football saying he has often used: that he was kicking with the wind behind him in the fourth quarter. But even the man who previously said 'I've been underestimated all my life' couldn't have predicted just how much wind was in his sails. He flew north, voted in Sydney's inner west where he has lived all his life – having grown up in a council home with a single mother who was on a disability pension – and then watched the election count at Kirribilli House, the prime minister's official Sydney mansion. As soon as Dutton called to concede defeat, Albanese, with the media in tow, was driven back to his constituency in Marrickville to address the party faithful. 'Today, the Australian people have voted for Australian values. For fairness, aspiration and opportunity for all. For the strength to show courage in adversity and kindness to those in need,' he roared out to a crowd who had just been chanting 'Albo, Albo, Albo.' The reference to kindness was a pointed follow-up to what he said earlier in the week: 'Peter Dutton seems to think that bluster and yelling and interrupting and being rude is strength. It's not. 'One of the things that you have to do as a leader is show kindness and compassion to the vulnerable. That's part of my character. That's not weakness.' If the shock of being reduced to a sclerotic right-wing rump should give the conservative side of Australian politics pause for thought, their indigenous affairs spokeswoman Jacinta Nampijinpa Price didn't get the memo. Speaking to a TV reporter, she was rude, dismissive, blamed the media for how it covered the election and acted like she believed her own hype. A photo of Price wearing a 'make America great again' (maga) hat was widely used during the campaign, and she didn't help matters by saying 'make Australia great again' during a press conference. That didn't stop her saying that 'the media can go through your personal Facebook photos and find a picture that was taken, in jest, at Christmas time, and then smear you with it, that is the problem. That is the issue.' But just as one swallow doesn't make a summer, one maga hat doesn't make a landslide election loss. This disaster has many fathers, and mothers. Dutton tried to dismiss the polls during the campaign, saying 'the quiet Australians' would see them over the line. It turned out the 'quiet Australians' were the ones making their rejection of him and his colleagues loud and clear. Albanese, who has Irish heritage through his late mother Maryanne Ellery, visited Ireland for a wedding in 2005. He is long overdue a return visit if the Irish Government sees fit to invite him.
