Derry Man jailed for assault and causing suffering to dog

A 43-year-old Derry man who admitted assaulting his partner and inflicting unnecessary suffering on her pet dog has been jailed at the local Magistrate’s Court.
John McGinley of Bond’s Hill in Derry admitted the offences which occurred on October 1.
The court was told that the injured party, McGinley’s former partner said he was banging and shouting at her door.
The woman let him in to the house and he pushed past her and grabbed the dog, hit the woman on the back of the head and left the house claiming he was going to kill the dog.
He went out to the car but then returned again and grabbed the dog twisting the its head – he then swung it around his head before throwing it on to a couch.
He assaulted the woman again by hitting her on the forehead and then took the car keys and drove away in the car.
He crossed the border in the car and was pursued by Gardai and then crashed in Donegal.
On October 4 McGinley was arrested by the PSNI and ‘violently resisted’ assaulting an officer in the chest.
Defence counsel Ms Nicky Rountree said the dog had been caught up in the ‘crossfire’ of what was a domestic incident.
She said that McGinley had reacted in the heat of the moment and would see himself as an animal lover.
Deputy District Judge Oonagh Mullen sentenced McGinley to four months in prison and disqualified him from driving for 12 months, he was also fined £300.