The ISPCA has welcomed the successful prosecution of a Clonmel man for animal cruelty.
44 year old William O’Reilly with an address at Heywood Road was handed a jail sentence along with a ban on owing or keeping dogs for ten years.
The case followed a multi-agency search in Clonmel last December when a number of dogs were seized.
Senior Animal Welfare Inspector with the ISPCA Alice Lacey has thanked Clonmel Gardaí for taking the case and also highlighted the fact that custodial sentences for animal cruelty cases are becoming more common.
“Since the introduction of the Animal Health and Welfare Act in March 2014 we have seen a lot of the time with past cases that people may get large fines imposed at the outcome of a case but more recently – and as time moves on and I think as a kind of a precedent is set with each individual court case – the courts are actually handing down custodial sentences a lot of the time which I think really is a step in the right direction.”
A number of dogs and pups which were seized have been successfully rehomed.
