Animal welfare - Man and sons jailed for neglect of 23 dogs and four horses at Kilkenny home

All defendants had previous convictions, but none that were deemed relevant by the judge.

In interview, Thomas Carthy accepted full responsibility. A Probation Officer’s report said he did not believe the animals were neglected, beyond a lack of shelter. He was remorseful and apologetic, and accepted the animals were not cared for as they should have been.

The report also said he lacked stability in his life. He attend KEY but sporadically, he has a support worker in Ossory Youth.

William Carthy pleaded guilty on the day the trial was scheduled to start. According to a Probation Report he accepted the dogs were not living in the best conditions but expressed a wish to have the animals back.

He accepted the dogs were not chipped or licensed, but he said they were vaccinated.
He said he thought it was up to the council to provide kennels, but he knows now he misunderstood this.

William Carthy suffers from health issues and has no history of employment.
The judge said Mr Carthy’s attitude that the dogs should not have been removed was of some concern to him.

Michael Carthy was cooperative when interviewed but asserted he did the best he could and understood the council was to assist. The council does not share this understanding, the judge noted.

Mr Carthy expressed remorse to the Probation Officer but they were of the opinion that this was not genuine. It was also their opinion that Michael Carthy was slow to accept responsibility for the neglect and poor treatment of the animals.
He was deemed to be of high risk of reoffending.

The men all had a history of poor engagement with the Probation Service, but defence barristers argued in court that this was a factor of their lifestyles and not a lack of willingness to engage, which the judge said ameliorated his concern.

Defence barrister for William Carthy, Adrian O’Higgins, said his client is married with three children.
Mr Carthy accepted the generality of the charges but said feed was always available.

He now accepts they had too many animals and they were not all well cared for.
Mr Carthy owns two lurchers which are pets for his children, who are aged two and five.

David Roberts BL, defending Thomas Carthy, said his client was apologetic. The matter was an embarrassment to him as he takes great pride in his car for dogs and horses.

He also now accepted the welfare of the animals was not to the standard it should have been. He has learned a salutary lesson.
A Probation Report deemed Mr Carthy at high risk of reoffending.

Barrister Sarah Jane Comerford, for Michael Carthy, said her client apologised to the court for the offences. He is 52 and has 11 children, six of whom are still living with him in a caravan. He has poor literacy skills and health issues.

He believed he did his best for the animals, he understands now his best wasn’t good enough in the circumstances.

A Probation Report said Michael Carthy had attempted to elicit sympathy for his own circumstances. Ms Comerford said he accepted the animals were kept in a ‘terrible state’ and was just trying to explain how the situation got so bad.

He was also deemed to be of high risk of reoffending.
Michael Carthy now only has one dog, a Jack Russell that is his son’s pet and well cared for.

The barristers submitted a file into court with pictures of their dogs looking healthy and invoices for the purchase of feed.

In sentencing, the judge said an aggravating factor in all cases was the serious nature of the offending and the multiplicity of animals involved. He said it was at the mid range of offending of this nature and a headline sentence would start with a penalty of two years and nine months on each charge.

However, in the case of Thomas Carthy, who was 17 at the time of the offences, legally a child, the judge said he must adjust that compared to an adult sentence, to 22 months.
Mitigation included his guilty plea, cooperation with gardaí and his age.

Mitigation for William and Michael Carthy included their guilty pleas, cooperation with gardaí and that they have come to no adverse garda attention since.

Judge Hayes said he took into account to some degree the remorse expressed, even though he had concern how deep that remorse may be.
He said the serious nature of offending required an immediate custodial sentence.

Thomas Carthy was sentenced to 15 months on six of his charges, all to run concurrently. Two charges were taken into account.

William Carthy was sentenced to 21 months on each of five charges, all to run concurrently.

Michael Carthy was sentenced to two years on each of seven charges, all to run concurrently.

The men had the final 12 months of their jail terms suspended on condition they keep the peace for 12 months on release.

All three were disqualified from owning, having any interest in or control of animals for 10 years. The act provides for a variation of this ban but, Judge Hayes said, for that to be granted there would have to be ‘significant evidence of an improvement in their understanding of animal welfare.’