Mansfield man banned from keeping animals for life after kicking and throwing dog over fence

Witnesses saw the elderly Cavalier King Charles spaniel Milly cry out in pain and later had to be put down to relieve her suffering.

Paul Boath, 55, of Willoughby Court, has been disqualified from keeping animals for life and sentenced to a 26-week suspended sentence following a prosecution brought by the RSPCA.

He was sentenced at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court on Thursday (May 6).

Boath admitted failing to provide Milly with the proper and necessary veterinary care and attention for the causes of her chronic pain.

At an earlier hearing on April 21, he was found guilty in his absence of causing Milly unnecessary suffering by the infliction of blunt force trauma and physical violence.

Witnesses told the court they had seen Boath kick Milly then throw her over the fence outside his house.

RSPCA Inspector Rachel Leafe, who led the investigation for the animal welfare charity, said: “Boath failed to get any veterinary treatment for Milly’s pain and she had been crying for a week and a half.

"When she was taken to a vet Milly was crying all the time, especially when the right side of her face and right side of her abdomen were touched. Her level of pain was so bad that vets used methadone to make her comfortable. X-rays were taken and revealed she had rib fractures.

The veterinary report said she ‘appeared to be painful or reactive to touching, yelping especially when touched along her right jawbone and later along her lumber vertebral region’.

In addition to the ban from keeping animals until further notice, which he cannot contest for five years, Boath was sentenced to 26 weeks imprisonment suspended for 18 months, ordered to undertake 10 Rehabilitation Activity Requirement days and an Alcohol Treatment Requirement.

He was also ordered to pay £750 costs and a £122 victim surcharge.

Despite receiving extensive veterinary care and treatment, sadly Milly later suffered heart failure and was unable to breathe so vets made the difficult to put her to sleep.

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