Man jailed over ‘worst case’ of animal cruelty argues ‘We were doing ISPCA’s job for them’

Martin Reilly Snr (43), his mum Katherine Reilly (71) and a third family member, Michael Reilly (27), were jailed for a total of 13 months at Cashel District Court last month after pleading guilty to a combined eight charges under the Animal Health and Welfare Act.

But the trio spent just one night in custody after filing appeals against their sentences.

Approached by the Sunday World this week, Martin Snr claimed he and his family had done nothing wrong and said many of the animals rescued were strays that he, Michael and Kathleen were caring for out of the goodness of their hearts.

He also hit out at the court proceedings, saying he had vet bills proving he was taking good care of four dogs he was prosecuted for mistreating.

“They made out there was dogs tethered and left to die,” he said.

“They weren’t left to die.

“And there was a lot of evidence that wasn’t heard before the court, stuff like these vet bills that the judge didn’t even look at.

“There was a lot of dogs here that weren’t in my care but I was convicted of all the offences and all the dogs.

“That shouldn’t have been the case because those dogs had got nothing to do with me.

“I had four dogs and my dogs were in good nick but they took no pictures of my dogs.”

During last month’s proceedings, harrowing evidence was relayed to the court of the condition of the 17 dogs and 10 puppies that were removed from properties and land at Killeens, Ballinunty, Co Tipperary on Wednesday, May, 26 and Friday, June 4, 2021.

The dogs included lurchers, salukis, Belgian malinois, a greyhound, a German shepherd, and a Chihuahua.

When ISPCA Senior Inspectors Alice Lacey and Emma Carroll visited the property, along with members of An Garda Síochána, the court heard they encountered:

• Dogs chained at the dwelling house and at an abandoned building close by;
• Living conditions consisting of a metal cage, a cattle trailer, and an open-ended corrugated shed;
• A dog tied to a tree in forestry behind the dwelling house;
• And many dogs left without clean drinking water and in extremely poor condition.

The court heard a lurcher removed was later discovered to have an old leg fracture, a female lurcher was heavily pregnant and severely underweight and a Belgian malinois had an injured neck due to the chain embedding in its skin.

In addition, the court heard, many dogs were found to be suffering from parasitic disease and untreated wounds.

But, Martin Snr claimed this week, the facts heard in court didn’t give a fair picture of the circumstances.

“There was a lot of stray dogs in and out of here,” he said.

“We rehomed dogs ourselves so we were actually doing the ISPCA’s job for them.”

Martin Snr went on to claim he had requested that the ISPCA remove dogs from his care before the prosecution had taken place.

“I’m annoyed it went to the stage it went to,” he said.

“There were dogs showing up here on a daily basis.

“They are being dropped off … people are buying puppies at Christmas time and they don’t realise they grow into adult dogs.

“And it doesn’t happen on just one or two occasions … it happens all the time.

“We’re not wealthy people, we don’t have big jobs and we’re drawing social welfare payments.

“But we spent a fierce quality of those payments on the dogs. And that’s our job either. We weren’t breeding the dogs.”

Asked why he pleaded guilty, if he was now disputing the evidence heard by the court, Martin Snr said: “I pleaded guilty because they were threatening to bring another person into it and he works … that’s the only reason I pleaded guilty.

“But I feel like I was run over by a car to be honest. We were in custody overnight. We filed the appeal that day in court but it took a day before we were released. I feel we were made an example of and we were made idiots of.” At the conclusion of last month’s hearing, Katherine Reilly was sentenced to one month imprisonment on each of three charges with the sentences to run consecutively.

Michael Reilly was sentenced to two months’ imprisonment on each of two charges to run consecutively, and Martin Reilly Snr, who did not enter an early guilty plea, received two-month sentences on each of three charges, to run consecutively.

In addition, Judge Brian O’Shea imposed 25-year disqualifications from keeping all animals on all three defendants and ordered that they pay a total of €9,190 in costs.

Forfeiture of two dogs seized at the time of the offences was also ordered.

On passing sentence Judge O’Shea said: “This is a serious case of animal cruelty. Inspector Lacey’s evidence was cadent and frank.

“She gave stark, detailed, and accurate evidence. These dogs were living in conditions, as the saying goes, ‘not fit for a dog to live in’.

“Many of the animals needed veterinary attention but were left aggrievedly waiting. These dogs were starving, thirsty, living in urine and faeces.

“This case lies on the upper range of gravity.”