Poor Rocky: He was unable to see before due to matted fur.

A HAVERFORDWEST couple appeared in front of the town’s magistrates on Tuesday (Feb 11) to face charges of animal cruelty against their own dog. Jason Arnold and Kerry Ann Webber both of Freeman’s View were over an hour late arriving at court but finally attended face the charges against them.

Jason Arnold pleaded guilty to the three charges of animal cruelty. The court heard that Arnold had not taken the right steps to look after his long-haired mongrel, Rocky. According to the RSPCA who were prosecuting the case, he had not provided a safe environment, he did not ensure the need of a suitable diet and he failed to protect his dog from pain, injury or disease. Kerry Ann Webber pleaded guilty to the one charge placed against her; she failed to protect the dog from pain, injury or disease.

The prosecutor John Tarrant summarised the charges against the two defendants. He commented that Kerry’s involvement with the dog was far less than Jason’s, but Rocky was a household dog. Before going into detail about the charges, Tarrant handed Magistrates the original copies of photographs of Rocky at the time he was taken into RSPCA custody.

Tarrant reported that the couple’s home environment was messy and that Rocky was kept in a two foot by two foot cage – he had no room to move. When the RSPCA entered their house, they noticed that the two dog bowls were empty and that Rocky was extremely matted. He talked about the fact that Jason had said in a previous interview that their family social worker was going to take the dog to a vet or groomer.

The RSPCA visited the couple’s home on July 14, 2014, after an anonymous call was made in regards to Rocky’s welfare. Arnold refused when an RSPCA officer asked for the dog to be signed over to them.

When Rocky was taken to the vets, he weighed 7.05 kg and was given a condition score of one out of five. Rocky could not see because huge matts covered his eyes and he could not defecate because his anal area was completely matted. The prosecutor described the pain that Rocky would have been in by asking the court to imagine their hair being pulled and twisted constantly for six weeks. Rocky had to be sedated twice over four days in order to remove all of the matting. When his matts were removed, he weighed only 6 kilos. The vet said that there was no way to know the true weight of Rocky when he came in four days earlier, but it definitely would have been less than 6 kg. In a follow up examamination on the October 8 2014, Rocky weighed an average weight for his size.

Arnold had said in a previous interview that they had owned Rocky for a few months, but he had not noticed the matting. Kerry had said that she knew that it was unacceptable but that she should not be blamed as much.

Tarrant added that Rocky was in the hands of the RSPCA still and that the boarding costs were exceeding £3,000.

The defence, Sara Lewis, asked for full credit for the pair’s guilty pleas. She went on to comment that Arnold said it was completely unintentional and that he had been feeding Rocky twice a day. He took responsibility for the fact that he may not have been feeding the dog an adequate amount of food and water. He accepted that Rocky’s coat was in a mess and that it must have been like that for a period of time.

Lewis went into further detail about the fact that the family’s social worker had been making arrangements for Rocky’s coat to be groomed. The couple do not drive and were trying to look for a mobile groomer. The two had been taking steps to resolve the problem and Anna, their social worker, had made an appointment for the week following the RSPCA’s visit. Anna helps the family with their middle child, who has learning difficulties. She attends the house to help with the children, but has never raised concerns about the state of the house. Lewis stated that this would have been something that Anna would have picked up on.

Lewis went on to say that the couple are not in the position to meet the level of costs required from them. There would be little chance of them fulfilling that debt and Lewis said that they would be set up to fail if they were ordered to pay the full amount. She went on to say that the dog meant a lot to the family and that it would be an excessive punishment to let the RSPCA keep him.

Magistrates asked why the pair were late earlier in the day and they said that they had been up overnight as their youngest daughter had earache and they had overslept. He then asked the two if they were aware that the court had been waiting around for over an hour.

The decision on the case was to be made after lunch.

When the case continued after 2pm, John Tarrant told the Magistrates that when leaving court, Webber had used abusive language against the RSPCA officer who was present. The RSPCA officer had said that Kerry has called him a p***k, a f***ing liar, a w****r and said that he was telling a pack of lies. She also followed him, pointing her finger at him aggressively. The RSPCA officer informed security.

The defence responded to Tarrant by saying that it was her first time hearing the exact allegation, so she requested that she could talk with Kerry. Magistrates agreed and Webber left with Lewis. They came back shortly after, with her crying.

Lewis said that the matter would be dealt with through an apology. She requested if she could apologise on behalf of Webber, but they wanted the apology to come from the defendant. She stood and said: “I’m sorry if I caused any offence. I know I never said it but I’m sorry anyway.” The RSPCA officer accepted this apology.

Magistrates finalised the case by stating that Rocky would not be able to go back to live with the defendants. The RSPCA will rehome him. The two were also disqualified from owning animals for ten years, and they will not be able to appeal for this time to be shortened. They were both given community orders, Jason will have to complete 90 hours of unpaid work, and Kerry 40. Their £3,155 fine was reduced to £500 each and they will also have to pay a victim surcharge of £60. They will pay £5 each per week. Magistrates asked for it to be ensured that the vet would have his fees of £906 paid first.