By Andrew Bardsley Patrick Edrich
This is the cruel dog owner who was caught throwing his own pet over a fence. Kieran O’Connor, 35, was caught on camera picking up his dog Prince up by the skin on his back and neck, and then hurling him over the front gate of his house. The dog, a brown male bull breed called Prince, then appeared to pick himself up off the concrete path and run around after the shocking incident. Bizarrely, O’Connor, of Parbrook Road in Huyton, then opened the gate and let himself in, the Liverpool Echo reports . O’Connor’s actions were shared widely on social media after the CCTV footage was posted. Now, following the completion of criminal proceedings against him, the ECHO can now confirm his identity and that he is the one responsible for the cruel actions. O’Connor appeared at Liverpool Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday (July 2) to be sentenced after he was charged under the Animal Welfare Act in a case brought by the RSPCA. He entered a guilty plea in relation to the incident at an earlier hearing on May 15. A charge sheet says O’Connor “failed to meet the need to protect his dog from pain, suffering, injury and disease by the infliction of physical abuse and emotional distress” during the incident on October 1 last year. He received a community order which involves 26 programme requirement days and was ordered to pay costs of 拢500 and a victim surcharge of 拢114. He was also banned from owning, keeping or dealing with animals for five years under section 34 of the same act. RSPCA inspector Caren Goodman-James said afterwards: “The most surprising thing about this case is that Kieran did not seem to understand that what he did was wrong. “This attitude meant that he would not sign Prince over to us – even when the prosecution had run its course. “We had to obtain an order from the court to make sure we could take him into our care and get him into a safe and secure environment. “Every animal has the right to be treated with kindness and respect. Nobody should be cruel or neglectful towards any animal and the kind of violence we saw here is absolutely unacceptable. “Thankfully we were able to rescue Prince and he is now doing very well in our care.” She added: “I would also like to thank the kind member of the public who reported this attack to us. Without their intervention and without the video evidence they allowed us to use, this prosecution would have been more difficult. “It shows that people don鈥檛 accept that animals can be treated in this way and also how helpful it is when those who witness cruelty can somehow provide footage to help us rescue animals in danger.”