A DRUNKEN teenager who hurled a pet dog against a picture on a wall with such force that the glass in the frame smashed has been barred from keeping any animal for ten years.
Seventeen-year old Michael Newlands of Medway House North, Edinburgh, had pleaded guilty at the city's Sheriff Court to assaulting two people in a house in the Moredun area of Edinburgh, on February 27 this year. He also admitted causing the dog unn
ecessary suffering.
Today Fiscal Depute Mina Poppius told Sheriff Neil Mackinnon that Newlands had a history of becoming violent after drinking.
At about 9.30 in the evening, he flew into a rage and punched the two people repeatedly. The Fiscal said Newlands then picked up the four-year old Shih Tzu dog and threw it against a wall, striking a picture and smashing the glass in the frame.
Defence agent, Duncan Hughes, said there had been some problems in Newlands' childhood and when he drank they came to the forefront of his mind and he became angry.
Sentencing Newlands, Sheriff Mackinnon told him his conduct had been lamentable and the attack on the dog was particularly deplorable.
He placed him on probation for 18 months and ordered him to perform 125 hours of Community Service. He also banned him from keeping any animal for ten years and ruled that he could not apply to have the ban altered or lifted for at least five years.
