Filthy Cork tenant absconds leaving behind dead dog hidden in mountain of rubbish

Speaking to Patricia Messinger on C103’s Cork Today Show, the landlord, who gave his name as Seamus, said that the woman had been staying in the flat with her two-year-old daughter before she left without giving him notice.

Despite a strict ban on pets, the woman acquired a dog, believed to be a pitbull or staff, and then, months later, left for three weeks, leaving the dog behind.

The starving dog started to eat timber around the house and later the dog died.

When the tenant returned to the property, she put the dead dog in a plastic bag and into a wardrobe.

There had been a large number of bin-bags in the garden which the landlord informed the tenant she should dispose of.

“She told me that her father had hired a skip to get rid of the bags and when I returned a week later, the bags weren’t in the garden so I thought she had done a good job of getting rid of them.”

In the following weeks he became aware that the flat was no longer occupied and, along with a council official, he opened the door to be met with an unbearable stench.

Inside the apartment, one room was stacked high with overflowing rubbish bags while, in the wardrobe in the bedroom where the woman had slept, there was a bin-liner containing the decomposing remains of the dog.

“The flies were as big as bluebottles,” said Seamus.

It cost him €8,000 to clean out the flat and replace all the furniture and appliances so it could be fit to rent out again.