Co Antrim woman who allowed Jack Russell 'Gizmo' to starve to death given three month jail sentence

In addition to the jail sentence Penny Gove was also banned from keeping or owning any animal for life but following a defence application, District Judge Peter Magill freed the 37-year-old on bail pending appeal.

At an earlier hearing Gove, from the Linn Road in Larne, admitted causing unnecessary suffering to a Jack Russell terrier while a further charge of failing to ensure the needs of the animal was marked as “left on the books.”

At Ballymena Departmental Magistrates Court today a council lawyer told the judge that on 19 February this year a report was made to the animal welfare officer about a dead or dying dog at a property in Larne.

When a search warrant was executed, the officer found the house in disarray and tragically, there was a Jack Russell Terrier lying dead in the back yard.

Describing how Gizmo was “severely underweight and all the bones could be felt protruding,” the lawyer told the court police officers had gone with the officer and they were able to tell her that Gove was at another address in the town.

When Gove was spoken to, she claimed she had been to feed the dog several days previously but the animal had “lost weight since Christmas.”

The court heard however that a Post Mortem report showed that the cause of death was starvation and the vet had concluded “it took several weeks for the dog to die of starvation and therefore, it is a case of prolonged suffering.”

The court heard how Gizmo weighed just three kilos when he died.

Gove, the court heard, was invited for interviews on several occasions but she never attended and that the council were seeking total costs of £470.

Defence counsel Thomas McKeever said that according to Gove, her friend had sadly taken their own life in an adjoining property so “she wasn’t mentally ready” to be in the property but she had made arrangements for a friend to look after the dog.

The court heard however that Gove had taken a second dog with her, leaving the Jack Russell behind and also that despite her claims of paying some unidentified person £40 to look after the animal, there was no food in her house.

Judge Magill revealed that according to Gove’s pre-sentence report, she had been out of the house for nine weeks and she had gone back on at least two occasions to collect post and didn’t bother to look at the dog.

“I accept that this is a serious case,” Mr McKeever conceded adding that the “irony is that she herself is an animal lover” who had worked with a local animal rescue.

He said while Gove “is full aware of the sentencing powers of the court,” he urged the judge to impose a probation order to assist the defendant further run the steps she had already taken with community addiction services.

Judge Magill told Gove that Gizmo “was your responsibility but you just left it” for more than two months.

“You say that you had organised someone to feed the animal but there was absolutely no food and no sign of anyone present,” said the judge adding that despite going to her house on two occasions to retrieve mail “you simply ignored that dog and it starved to death.”

He told Gove that had she fought the case she would have received a six month jail sentence but given her plea, “I intend to impose three months immediate custody.”

Along with the lifetime ban on keeping or owning any animal, Judge Magill also ordered her to pay £470 in costs and allowing her six months to pay that, he freed her on £100 bail pending an appeal.