A postman who kicked his partner’s pet dog into a bedroom wall in a fit of rage has narrowly avoided going to prison.
Paul Green (37), of Shore Road, Newtownabbey, Co Antrim, previously pleaded guilty to threats to damage property and causing unnecessary suffering to a dog.
He also admitted offences of assaulting his now estranged partner and causing criminal damage to the back door of her home.
Belfast Magistrates Court heard that on May 2, police received a report of an ongoing domestic incident at the home Green then shared with his partner at Merville Garden Village in Newtownabbey.
A prosecution lawyer said police spoke to Green’s partner who said he had come home in the morning “very angry and upset about his pay”.
She said he came into the bedroom where she was and “kicked the dog off the bed and the dog hit the wall”.
The court heard Green then threw the dog into the front passenger seat of his car. She tried to get the dog out of the car with the defendant in the driver’s seat. The prosecutor said Green told her: “If you don’t move I will run you over.”
The injured party managed to get the dog out of the car and as she was walking back to her house, Green approached her and said: “I am going to punch the head off you.”
She feared she was going to be assaulted, said the prosecution lawyer, and locked herself in the house. Green went to the back of the house and started kicking the door.
The court heard that before police arrived Green had threatened to burn her house down. A defence lawyer described the incident as “very unsavoury”.
She said Green made full admissions during his interviews with police and “maintains his guilt and disgust at his actions”.
The lawyer confirmed to the court that Green’s one-year-old son was in the property at the time of the incident. The court was told Green and his partner had been in a relationship for 14 years but that has now ended.
District Judge Philip Mateer said he did not believe a probation order was an appropriate disposal of the case and said a prison sentence was needed to mark the seriousness of the offending.
He imposed a four month sentence suspended for three years and disqualified Green from owning or keeping animals for a period of three years. The district judge also imposed a restraining order on him for five years.