EVAN David Bevan, 50, of Cwmann, Lampeter, appeared at Llanelli Magistrates’ Court on Friday 12 April for a trial – and was found guilty for all three offences.
They were that he caused unnecessary suffering to a male pony known as Tony by kicking him and that he caused unnecessary suffering to a female German shepherd dog known as Rosie by failing to provide prompt and effective professional veterinary care and attention for an injury to her right ear.
A third offence was that he failed to ensure that the needs of a group of dogs including a female mastiff dog known as Lily and a female German Shepherd dog known as Rosie were met to the extent required by good practice.
On Friday 3 May he was sentenced. For the first offence he was sentenced to 12 weeks, the second offence eight weeks and four weeks for the third offence, which will all run concurrently. The 12 week sentence has been suspended for 24 months. He was also ordered to undertake 25 rehabilitation action requirement days and undertake 200 hours of unpaid work, pay £1,000 costs and a victim surcharge.
In mitigation it was heard that he has lowered numbers of animals, the incidents were isolated and there have been no further incidents.
In a witness statement from RSPCA Deputy Chief Inspector (DCI) Gemma Cooper, provided to the court, she said that it was on 20 February 2023 when she was provided two videos from an anonymous source.
The first video from 27 September 2022 showed a male kicking a pony and a second video showed the same male hitting a dog on a number of occasions with a stick, with a fight breaking out between the dogs – in which Rosie was injured. Both videos were shown in court.
She later attended the location of these videos with police and an animal health officer from Carmarthenshire County Council. There they met Evan Bevan and DCI Cooper said she instantly recognised the male from the videos.
She said, “We asked if we could look at his dogs and he let out of a barn approximately 10-15 dogs who almost straight away started to fight amongst each other, one being bitten on her face and causing her to bleed.
“Evan Bevan stated it was all too much for him and he wasn’t going to breed anymore. I asked if he would like help with rehoming the dogs and he said that he only had two he wanted to rehome; a female Bull Mastiff called Lily and a female chocolate labrador called Maggie.”
Lily and Maggie were signed over to the RSPCA. Mr Bevan was advised by DCI Cooper that she thought he had too many unneutered dogs together – but he said that he could cope with the rest.
He was asked where a German Shepherd dog called Rosie was and Mr Bevan said that he had rehomed her with a rescue centre a couple of days ago.
DCI Cooper later spoke with the rescue centre who confirmed that he had brought Rosie to them who had an old injury to her right ear.
An independent expert veterinary report into the welfare of a group of dogs and a horse was provided to the court in which both videos were examined.
In the first video clip Mr Bevan “kicks the pony with force to the left shoulder”. The vet added, “The kick was forceful and clearly made contact with the pony that reacted adversely to the kick, indicating that the kick caused pain and hence suffering.”
In relation to the German Shepherd named Rosie – who lost a significant portion of her right ear – it was said that “the injury will have caused the dog pain and suffering”.
The injury took place during the incident where Mr Bevan was seen in a yard in the second video with a large group of dogs all off the lead and running freely around.
He is seen swinging a stick in an attempt to hit the Jack Russell and ends up hitting another dog. A fight also erupts between the dogs.
The vet report states, “When Mr Bevan identifies what is going on he walks back across the yard and repeatedly hits the Bull Mastiff with his stick in an attempt to get the dog to loosen its hold of the German Shepherd Dog. Mr Bevan persistently hits the dog before eventually getting hold of the mastiff and attempting to pull it free of the German Shepherd Dog although he continues hitting at the dog with the stick.”
It was heard that Mr Bevan confirmed that Rosie’s ear injury occurred during the incident and that he did not seek veterinary attention but instead sprayed the ear with Engemycin spray.
Lily and Maggie who were placed into RSPCA care have been happily rehomed. Rosie, who was in the care of another rescue, has also been rehomed.
