Dog found in garden 'emaciated and with its stomach empty of food’'

THE dog 19-year-old Melissa White was supposed to be looking after was left to starve to death in agony while helpless in a garden.

Deputy district judge Sam Goozee said the dog had been found "emaciated, dehydrated and with its stomach completely empty of any food".

He said: "Clearly, this dog had just been left to die. It clearly had not been fed – and that dog suffered."

He told White: "The dog can't look after itself. It can't feed itself. It relies entirely on you.

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"You breached that relationship of trust and left it to starve. For at least two weeks, it had not been fed."

Probation services officer Rachel Austwick said White had bought the German Shepherd dog, aged about four and called Tyson, from an acquaintance for about £100.

White claimed the other person agreed to provide food. She claimed she was struggling financially – but had a Sky contract to pay for.

The dog was kept in the garden, as the previous owner had done, but White was "out of her depth" looking after the dog and she was "struggling to feed herself", said Miss Austwick.

White claimed she never heard the dog whimpering and claimed that when she saw the empty dog bowl, she assumed the dog was "just playing with it".

White claimed to be suffering from depression, said Miss Austwick – but shortly before going into the courtroom, White was repeatedly seen laughing and joking with others.

White, of Hainton Avenue, Grimsby, admitted causing unnecessary suffering to a dog by failing to provide adequate food and water, between August 3 and 17.

Nick Furman, mitigating, said White was "hopelessly incapable of caring for the dog properly".

He added: "Clearly, its feeding was woefully inadequate and, sadly, the dog died.

"She was overwhelmed by life's other difficulties. She was swimming around in a sea of incompetence and mental stress.

"She is extremely upset and distressed that she was responsible for what happened."

At the time of the hearing White owned a cat and there had been no problems with it.

As well as 200 hours' unpaid work and a ten-year ban from owning or keeping animals, White was ordered to pay £100 costs.