Judge James McCourt agreed to strike conviction for failing to control two dogs from his record when he heard it might prevent him travelling to America
Wexford Courthouse
An Enniscorthy resident whose dogs left a neighbour with bite marks and his Glen of Imaal terrier wounded appeared in the Circuit Court.
Brian Lawlor (54) of Cois Abhainn, Hempfield, Enniscorthy, came before Judge James McCourt to appeal against a conviction for failure to control his two pets.
The District Court conviction came with a fine of €1,500.
The appeal hearing was told that 71-year-old Hempfield householder John Musgrave had a terrier called Hugo.
Shortly before 6 p.m. on the evening of February 13 last year, Garda Sinead Murphy was called to his home.
She found that Musgrave had received bites and lacerations inflicted by Lawlor's dogs in his garden.
It appeared that he they had turned on him when he attempted to save Hugo from attack.
The bigger of the two canine intruders was described in court as a German shepherd, which was immediately euthanised.
Its companion was a German shepherd / retriever cross.
It too was seized but it was not euthanised until more than a year later, in the wake of the District Court proceedings.
Garda Murphy said that Hugo survived with neck injuries but he was ‘not the same since'.
She also confirmed that Lawlor had been named in civil proceedings taken by Musgrave.
Meanwhile the complainant continued to suffer flashbacks and scars arising from the incident.
The defendant, a father of three, had a good job with an American bank, defending barrister Jordan Fletcher revealed.
Counsel noted that his client had met his wife in the US and that she was an American citizen.
The court learned that his dogs had been fitted with ‘shock collars' but these proved not sufficient to keep them in check.
When the attack occurred Lawlor intervened by hitting one of his dogs with a wooden stick.
The appeal was taken as he was worried that the conviction might interfere with any plans he might have to return to the USA.
Judge McCourt agreed to strike it from the record, on the understanding that the accused will make a donation of €1,500 to the Wexford branch of the SPCA.
