Suspended sentence for Letterkenny man who beat chihuahua with mop pole

A man has been given a suspended sentence at Derry Magistrate's Court for striking a chihuahua dog
with a wooden pole causing injuries resulting in the dog having to be put down.
Ryan Keenan, 29, of Burnside Park in Letterkenny admitted causing unnecessary suffering to a dog on
July 20, last year. He also faced a charge of criminal damage to household items on the same date. The court heard that police were contacted by a female that told them that Keenan had used a piece of wood to beat her Chihuahua dog.

She said she was at her friend's house in the Strathfoyle area of Derry when two men, one of them
Keenan, arrived. The two men began fighting with each other and in the course of the fight damage was caused to the property.
The two men then went outside and continued fighting. In the course of the incident the dog ran out and Keenan struck the dog with a mop pole he had in his hands.
The owner of the property said she had received multiple phone calls from the two men asking her
permission to go to her house as they were drunk and had nowhere else to go. She refused permission but then was contacted by her friend who said the two men were at her home
and were 'wrecking the place'.
She rushed home and saw Keenan with a mop shaft which he used to strike the dog. The police were told the dog was 'covered in blood, gurgling and not moving.'
While on the way to the vet the dog came around and was 'yelping in pain.'
The dog was found to have severe injuries including several fractures and had to be put down.
The defendant admitted hitting the dog and said it 'got in the way.'
He accepted he caused some of the damage to the property.
Defence counsel Stephen Chapman said his client 'accepted full responsibility for what occurred'.
He said the context of the offence was a fight between Keenan and another man.
District Judge Oonagh Mullen said the dog's injuries were 'horrific' and the animal would have been in 'a large amount of pain.'

Keenan was given 12 months in prison suspended for three years and ordered to pay £1,000 in
compensation.