A Dublin man who violently killed his sick dog in a park full of children because he claimed he couldn't afford the vet bill, has avoided a jail term.
In his previous sentence hearing in July the Criminal Courts of Justice heard that 44 year old Liam Dowling of Fitzgibbon Court on Fitzgibbon Street was seen swinging the dog overhead by its lead and smashing it to the ground up to 30 times as he crossed a park area by Clonliffe College.
In a statement Garda Shane Mengessidis said that Dowling was also seen putting his foot on the dog's head while it was on the ground and pulling the lead tight.
At the time Dowling claimed the dog, a family pet of nine years, had been sick for up to five months and he didn’t have the money to pay for medication.
Yesterday he was handed 200 hours of community service in lieu of a two-year sentence and Judge Martin Nolan also declined to ban Dowling from keeping dogs in future.
