CONVICTED (2024) | Paul Green, born 11 December 1986, of Shore Road, Newtownabbey BT37 0AB – kicked his partner’s dog into a bedroom wall in a fit of rage and then tried to steal him.
Father-of-three Green, who works as a postman with the Royal Mail, pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to the unnamed dog.
He also admitted offences of assaulting his now-estranged partner and causing criminal damage to the back door of her home.
The court heard that on May 2, 2024, police received a report of an ongoing domestic incident at the home Green then shared with his then partner at Merville Garden Village in Newtownabbey.
A prosecution lawyer said police spoke to Green’s partner, who said he had come home in the morning “very angry and upset about his pay”.
She said Green entered the bedroom where she was and “kicked the dog off the bed and the dog hit the wall”.
She asked why he had done this and Green grabbed the dog, saying: “I am sick of this. I am getting rid of it [the dog].”
Green then threw the dog into the front passenger seat of his car. The complainant attempted to get the dog out of the car, with the defendant in the driver’s seat.
Green told her: “If you don’t move I will run you over.”
The woman managed to retrieve the dog from the vehicle and as she was walking back to her house Green approached her and said: “I am going to punch the head off you.”
Fearing she was going to be assaulted, the woman locked herself in the house. Green went to the back of the house and started kicking the door.
The court heard that before police arrived Green had threatened to burn the house down.
Green’s defence lawyer said his client had experienced “poor mental health” but was doing better on different medication.
The court was told Green and his partner had been in a relationship for 14 years but that has now ended.
Sentencing | four-month custodial sentence, suspended for three years. Restraining order. Disqualified from owning or keeping animals for three years (expires July 2027).