COURT

Andrew Marston (39) was told by magistrates he was lucky not to be going to prison for striking the three-month-old shih tzu called Chester.
He had become infuriated by the puppy's lack of house-training and lashed out at the black and white dog to punish him for urinating in his home, Peterborough Magistrates' Court heard.
It followed a course of alarming behaviour shown by Marston towards Chester and another two dogs he had recently bought.

Diane Page and her daughter Sarah (15), his neighbours in Magnolia Avenue, Longthorpe, Peterborough, had been shocked by his treatment of a basset hound, another shih tzu puppy and Chester.Michael Taylor, prosecuting, said Marston spoke to Sarah on November 4, last year, in a panic after he attacked the puppy.

Mr Taylor said: "Sarah was alone in her house when Mr Marston came round. "He said 'Chester's not breathing. I think he's dead. I told him off for making a mess and I think I smacked him a bit too hard'.
"Sarah later told the RSPCA 'Chester was laying in the kitchen floor and appeared to be dead. I picked him up and he was all floppy'."She cleared the dog's airways so he could breathe then took him to vet's surgery.Mr Taylor said Chester was "trembling violently" and given a 50-50 chance of survival.
He was put in an incubator, was unable to stand or sit up and nearly lost an eye.

Jay Morjaria, mitigating, said Marston had been evicted from his home by his landlady because of the case and had also lost a lot of business.
Marston, now of Tallington, Longthorpe, pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to an animal.He was ordered to pay £346 in veterinary bills, £600 legal costs and ordered to carry out 180 hours of community punishment.RSPCA inspector Lewis Trickey welcomed the sentence.He said: "Marston is very lucky they didn't impose a custodial sentence."
He added: "It is only through a 15-year-old girl's intervention that I wasn't dealing with the death of a puppy."

Beaten Chester now enjoying a new life
CHESTER made a full recovery and is now enjoying a new life.His owner, a 20-year-old veterinary nurse said: "He was a bit of a mess when I first saw him. It was touch and go. "But he's fine now. The best thing is, despite everything, he's not bothered by it all. "We called him Teddy to give him a new start and also he does look like a big fluffy teddy bear."

It followed a course of alarming behaviour shown by the IT consultant towards the Shih Tzu, called Chester, and another two dogs he had bought in a short space of time. Neighbours Diane Page and her daughter, Sarah, had been shocked by his treatment of a Basset hound, another shih tzu puppy and Chester.
Michael Taylor, prosecuting, said that Marston had alerted Sarah on November 4 last year in a panic, after he had attacked the puppy. Mr Taylor said: "Sarah was alone in her house when Mr Marston came round. "He said: 'Chester's not breathing. I think he's dead. I told him off for pooing, and I think I smacked him a bit too hard'.
"They both ran to the house, and Sarah said: "Chester was laying on the kitchen floor and appeared to be dead. I picked him up and he was all floppy'." Sarah managed to clear the dog's airways so that he could breathe, and then she and her mother took him to Broadway Veterinary Surgery in the city centre.
Mr Taylor said that Chester was "trembling violently", was given a 50:50 chance of survival and had to be put on an intravenous drip.
He was put in an oxygen incubator to save his life and was unable to stand or sit up. He also nearly lost an eye. Jay Morjaria, mitigating, said Marston owned two brown rats, guinea pigs and a grey cockateel, but had got "out of his depth" buying a puppy. He said: "He fully accepts at that time he thought he could handle the puppy.
"He knows what he did was wrong, and shows genuine remorse." Marston, of Tantallon Court, Longthorpe, Peterborough, pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to an animal. Ken Peachey, chairman of the magistrates, said: "We don't believe that a financial penalty will be a sufficient sentence. "We're going to call for a full pre-sentence report covering all options to include custody."
Marston will be sentenced at the court on March 8.

Neighbours concerned other pets 'being mistreated"

Marston's neighbours noted several other cases of him mistreating his dogs. Peterborough Magistrates' Court heard that a Basset hound he had owned was heard yelping and crying, and that he gave the shih tzu to Sarah Page 24 hours after getting it. Sarah and her mother, Diane, also said that they had seen Marston hit Chester for urinating, and push the puppy's face into its own faeces after it defecated in his home. The court heard of another occasion when Chester was found unconscious at the bottom of Marston's stairs smelling of vodka. No charge was brought for any of those incidents.
The court also heard that when Marston's landlady heard of the RSPCA proceedings against him, she asked him to move out.