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A Slane, Co Meath farmer who lost 19 sheep after they were attacked by an alsatian dog told Trim Court that when he got a message about the attack he went to his field and saw a dog there which he then followed and it ended up in his neighbour’s yard.
Paul Matthews of Woodfarm, Slane said the attack had cost him €5,810.
Before the court were a son and his father, John (owner of the dog) and Pat Meade, both of Cashel House, Slane who were summoned for having an uncontrolled dog on the morning of 20 February last year.
Both men denied that their dog was involved.
He said a number of sheep had been drowned and a number “had their necks ripped”
Garda Liam Hennessy said that Mr Matthews had reported the alleged attack to him at 9pm that night and told him that Trevor O’Connor, a neighbour, had told him he had seen an alsatian dog running up and down the field.
He had also been told that there was a large ravine in the field and sheep had run into it.
The garda also said that Mr Matthews said he had phoned Pat Meade who was out of the country. He offered to shoot the dog but Mr Meade asked him not to.
The garda said that Mr Matthews had told him that when Mr Meade returned to the country he denied the dog was his. The garda added that he had inspected the dog and it was very close to the one described to him by Mr Matthews.
There was no licence in force for the dog but Mr Meade later produced one dated 1 March 2016. “There were numerous attempts to mediate between the two men but to no avail,” Garda Hennessy said.
Inspected
Asked by defending barrister Sarah Judge if he had inspected the field where the alleged attack had taken place, he said he had. It was within eyesight of Mr Meade’s premises but there was one field in between.
Mr O’Connor had told him the dog was “a large, dark woolly dog” and “a black-looking German shepherd dog”.
Mr Matthews had said to him that there were two other alsatian dogs in the area – one at Janeville, Slane two miles away and Slane village four miles away.
Trevor O’Connor gave evidence of having seen the dog in the field and the sheep that were killed.
When Mr Matthews arrived, the dog was still in the field and he had seen Mr Matthews follow the dog from there to Mr Meade’s property. Replying to Ms Judge, he said that while it mightn’t be the brightest time of the day, he did see the dog and it was about 50 yards from him.
He said a number of sheep had been drowned and a number “had their necks ripped”.
If there had been blood on the dog I would have put the dog down, even if it was a family dog
Paul Matthews said when he got to the field he saw the bodies of three sheep lying down. The dog in the field “started walking with a purpose and we said we’d follow him home. The dog went through a gap in the hedge and I stayed up with it. It was walking with no speed. The dog walked calmly into Mr Meade’s yard”.
He said when he rang Pat Meade, who was in Amsterdam, he had said “don’t shoot the dog, it’s my son’s dog”. He had lost 19 sheep, some of them lambs at foot and a number that were heavily pregnant and the value was €5,810. In the aftermath of the attack, he had visited 20 houses in the area to see if there were any alsatians.
There was one in Slane village which was obviously not the dog concerned, and he had not seen the other one at Janeville.
When Ms Judge put it to him that Carla Meade had inspected the family dog and said it was clean without any blood on it, he agreed that there was no blood.
Pat Meade gave evidence that when Mr Matthews had phoned him to say there was “carnage” in his field, and that he had followed a dog onto his (Mr Meade’s) property, he was “devastated”.
“I didn’t believe him because the dog was bought at two months old and had been brought up with sheep, ducks, chicken and anything else you can think of. I was very sorry about Mr Matthews’ loss, I have livestock myself”.
The dog had never got out before. It was also suffering from arthritis in the back leg. He was adamant his dog was not involved.
“If there had been blood on the dog I would have put the dog down, even if it was a family dog”. When Inspector Martina Noonan put it to him that he could not say whether it was his dog or not because he was away, he replied “It was absolutely not my dog. My dog was spotless, bone dry”.
Summary
Ms Judge argued that the colouration of the dog as given to the court was different from the colouration of Mr Meade’s dog, which was “black and tan”. She asked the court to consider a doubt as to whether Mr Meade’s dog caused the damage. Judge Cormac Dunne said the kernel of the evidence that removed any doubt was that the dog had gone back to Mr Meade’s premises followed by Mr Matthews.
It had walked “slowly and very calmly”.
He said that the fact the Meade dog had a physical immobility because of arthritis, didn’t rank. He imposed a fine of €750 on John Meade for being the owner of an uncontrolled dog and Pat Meade €1,000 for being a person in charge of an uncontrolled dog, with 12 months to pay in each case.
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