Dog neglect nurse is free after case appeal
A nurse jailed for six months by magistrates for appalling neglect of her dog has been released after a week in custody following a successful appeal.
Christine Smith, of Maycroft Close, Hednesford, was sentenced to six months behind bars for allowing her 12-year-old Collie Lucy to suffer with a skin infection so severe even vets, who were forced to put the dog to sleep, were shocked.
But just seven days later a Stafford Crown Court judge reduced the sentence to 20 weeks and suspended the jail term for 18 months. Smith was also ordered to undertake 200 hours of unpaid work and pay a contribution of £1,200 towards costs.
Judge John Wait heard how 50-year-old Smith had failed to take Lucy for treatment, telling RSPCA officers she had been afraid she would lose the dog which she had cared for since it was three weeks old and saw her as a 'child'.
After the pet suffered for eight weeks and with Smith on holiday, her 21-year-old son decided the dog's condition had got so bad he took her to the vets. The vet carrying out the post mortem described the skin condition – called deep pyoderma – as the worst case he had ever seen in his career.
Smith had been sentenced last Thursday at Cannock Magistrates Court when chairman of the bench, Mr Paul Ensor, had criticised Smith for going on holiday when the pet was in obvious pain.
She had been found guilty in her absence of a charge of causing unnecessary suffering to an animal, and another of being a person responsible for an animal and failing to ensure its welfare between June and August last year.
But at yesterday's hearing, the appeal was launched to not only suspend the prison sentence, but to reduce the period of 10 years she was banned from keeping pets. In mitigation, Miss Jo Clark said the sentence had been 'excessive'. Miss Clark said Smith's previous good character had not been taken into account.
She added Smith, who works in Cannock as a psychiatric nurse for children and adolescents, was remorseful and risked losing her job if she was kept locked up.
Judge Wait said it was a 'sad' case as she had 'let Lucy down' in the last two months of her life. The ban of 10 years for keeping pets was not altered.
