Trainer detained over $10k dog's fatal ordeal
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A man who abandoned a greyhound in a hot car for 14 hours, leading to the $10,000 dog's death, has been sentenced to five months' periodic detention and fined.
Trainer Terry Darragh, 37, left Go Bronco in a station wagon in Glebe, in Sydney's inner-west, after failing to stop when his car hit a bus in January.
He falsely reported the car stolen the next day.
Passersby have told the court they heard the animal howling. One of them took it to a vet but it died of organ failure three days later.
The court has heard temperatures in the car would have ranged from 20 degrees Celcius to the low 30s. A vet's report said the dog would have suffered enormous pain.
Darragh pleaded guilty to four charges: animal cruelty, negligent driving, false representations relsulting in a police investigation and failing to give his particulars to another driver.
The magistrate fined him $1,000 and ordered him to serve five months' periodic detention and 150 hours of community service, saying the offences were serious.
Darragh's solicitor has lodged an appeal against the severity of the sentence.
The 37-year-old, who has trained more than 100 grehounds since receiving his trainer's licence when he was 16, refused to comment outside court.
The court heard he was sorry for his actions and had intended to retrieve the dog the day after leaving it.
