A WOMAN who cruelly abandoned her pet dog in a flat where it was found dead hanging from blinds after a desperate bid to escape through a window, has avoided a prison sentence.
Aleshia McLaverty (23) admited a charge of cruelty after the starved maggot-infested dog, which was so thirsty it drank a household toilet bowl dry, was discovered by shocked animal welfare officers at a flat registered to her in Antrim's Greystone estate.
At Antrim Magistrates Court yesterday, she was given a two year jail term, suspended for two years and banned from keeping animals for five years.
She pleaded guilty to charges of permitting unnecessary pain or distress to a dog under her control and keeping it without a valid licence.
McLaverty no longer lives at Firmount Drive where the dog was found and the property is now occupied by a woman with no connection to her.
She did not comment leaving court.
After receiving a report from a member of the public about a dead dog at a property, animal welfare officers entered the property in April 2014 to be met with a "pungent" smell and a house full of flies with floors covered with dog faeces.
The emaciated Labrador-cross type dog was found dead hanging upside down from a blind cord with maggots in its mouth and eyes.
There was no food and the toilet bowl was dry, suggesting the dog had drunk from it, and scratch marks on packets of food consistent with the animal trying to find something to eat.
A post mortem revealed it died of dehydration and starvation and was likely tried to jump through a window in its death throes, but became entangled on a blind.
Defence barrister Aaron Thompson said it was a "tragic case of passive neglect" and, although the house was registered to McLaverty, she took nothing to do with it and her sister had lived there at some stage.
He said McLaverty owned the dog, but did not have direct control of it and the house was "abandoned" and the dog was trapped in the house when she became pregnant and went to live with her mother.
He said McLaverty, who now lives with her partner and their child, was "very emotional and distressed" and came to the court with a "good character" and with a clear record. He said she accepted she knew the dog was in the house and "did nothing about it".
Suspending the jail term, District Judge Alan White said he had to give credit for the guilty plea and her clear record and the fact she has a "new baby" and he ordered her to pay costs of £119.
