Owner whose ‘XL Bully’ was hit with a shovel in back garden is fined £375 and banned from keeping dogs
A DOG owner has been fined £375 after shocking footage showed his XL Bully-style dog being abused with a shovel.
The harrowing footage shows the thug attacking the animal in a backyard in Hackney, East London.
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He repeatedly strikes the dog, named Ace, with the metal shovel – at one point using so much force that he lost his balance.
The horror only ended when a neighbor called Police to report the abuse after it has been filmed.
Owner Simon Thomas handed himself in after the attack and appeared at Stratford Magistrates’ Court Today.
He admitted that Ace was his dog, but denied that it was he who had hit the animal.
Thomas was fined £375 and ordered to pay costs of £1,419 after pleading guilty to failing to prevent causing unnecessary suffering to an animal.
He was also banned from keeping dogs for twelve months after the shocking attack.
Police were sent to the estate in November and found Ace injured.
He was taken for treatment but there has been no update on his condition.
A Met Police spokesperson said: “Following a viral video of a man hitting a dog, Ace, with a shovel, officers from the Status Dogs Unit arrested and charged a man. He was remanded in custody and pleaded not guilty.
“During the trial, the charge was changed to a person responsible for allowing suffering because he claimed he did not hit the dog. He admitted the dog was his.”
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