A man from Manchester who was caught on CCTV beating his dog has been sentenced for causing unnecessary suffering to the Belgian Malinois. Carlton James Chesney-Mitchell (DOB:13/09/2002), of Greebrow Road, Manchester, was sentenced at Manchester Magistrates’ Court on February 21 for causing unnecessary suffering to Annie by inflicting physical abuse on her. The RSPCA were alerted to footage of the incident which had been posted on Facebook. It showed a male kicking and throwing a medium-sized brown dog in June last year. Untitled design (4).mp4 The video shows a male in dark trousers, a blue hoodie and a black balaclava cycling towards an open garden from a field. He then throws the bike down and can be heard shouting “come here”. A brindle dog comes into the footage and the male kicks the left side of her face with his right leg. He then entices the dog back and proceeds to kick her on the left side of her face again. The man, later identified to be Chesney-Mitchell, is then heard saying: “Stop pi**ing me off and f***ing running off, stop it” before striking Annie twice with his right hand and grabbing her by the neck with both hands and throwing her in the air. Annie can then be seen spun in midair before landing on her feet and running out onto the field. The male can be heard stating “F***ing piece of s**t”, as he mounts his bicycle and cycles off. Inspector Deborah Beats, who investigated, immediately sent the footage to a vet at the RSPCA Manchester Animal Hospital in Salford who confirmed the dog had been caused to suffer by Chesney-Mitchell’s actions. Deborah said: “I reached out to those on social media who had information on this video and after a false start, I was able to speak to a member of the public who informed me the dog and the owner were at their house. “I met Chesney-Mitchell at the member of the public’s address along with his two year old Belgian Malinois Annie. After interviewing the owner, I took Annie to be checked over by a vet where thankfully it was found that she didn’t have any injuries.” The court heard how a vet report stated that Annie was very nervous on examination. It found that Annie would have suffered physically momentarily during the kicking, throwing and hitting episodes captured in the footage, however, the emotional impact may have a life-long effect. The report continued: “This is shown with Annie’s fear behaviours such as cowering away from the person in the video before the second kick and cowering when her head was approached for examination. These fear behaviours along with being constantly shouted at would have caused her mental suffering. “It is likely Annie will have been in pain for several days after this incident and will have suffered at the very least mild soft tissue injuries. This will have caused discomfort when trying to walk and display normal behaviours such as playing. “In the video presented I can identify that the person of interest inflicts harm on Annie on at least five occasions in the form of kicking, hitting and throwing. “They caused unnecessary suffering on multiple accounts by inflicting pain on Annie. There was no reasonable explanation for the outbursts on her visible within the video footage, as Annie was not inflicting harm on the person in question or anyone else.” Chesney-Mitchell was disqualified from keeping dogs for two years and was ordered to carry out a 12-month community order which includes 20 rehabilitation activity requirement days. He was also ordered to carry out a further 100 hours of unpaid work, to pay £200 in costs and a £114 victim surcharge. A deprivation order was also imposed for Annie meaning she can now be rehomed by the RSPCA. Deborah added: “This was a shocking and completely unnecessary attack on this poor dog. I’m glad this case has concluded and Annie can now find the loving forever home she deserves.”
