Glenn Tweedie has been banned from keeping animals for life after twice striking a black labrador over the head with a hammer before stabbing her through the thorax, causing her to bleed to death in agonising pain. The sentence was handed down at Edinburgh Sheriff Court.
Inspector alerted to screaming dog
The Scottish SPCA was first alerted to an address in Loanhead, near Edinburgh, after a concerned caller heard the dog "screaming". An inspector attended the address and was met by Tweedie.
Tweedie claimed he had a female labrador called Caillie who had been euthanised a few days earlier. He said he had taken the dog to a vet as she had been in pain from her reproductive cycle.
Tweedie admits killing Caillie himself
The SPCA inspector told Tweedie they would contact the vet to confirm. However, upon returning to his van he was approached by Tweedie, who claimed he killed Caillie himself because he couldn't afford the vet bill and she was in pain.
Tweedie was cautioned but went on to describe what happened. He told the inspector Caillie had been in pain in the back garden and was unable to get up, the SPCA reports.
Caillie buried in shallow grave
He said he then clubbed Caillie twice over the head with a big hammer, leaving her conscious and in immense pain. He then explained he stabbed her with a large knife. While he had aimed for the heart, he missed, instead stabbing the dog's lung. The animal charity says this means Caillie essentially drowned in her own blood.
Tweedie told the inspector he then put Caillie's body in a black bag before burying her in a shallow grave in a nearby wooded area. The Scottish SPCA subsequently recovered Caillie's body after discovering her covered in branches at the bottom of a large ditch.
Post-mortem findings
The dog was taken for a post-mortem examination where a pathologist concluded her suffering would have begun once she was hit over the head. The stab wound, they said, would have produced "significant blood loss", which could have caused her to pass out and eventually die. They said she had no signs of any reproductive system pain.
Tweedie was also handed a 12-month restriction of civil liberty order and an 18-month supervision order. His other black labrador, Jura, was seized and taken into the care of the Scottish SPCA.
The inspector said: "In my three years working as an Inspector for the Scottish SPCA, this is the most upsetting case I've seen by an enormous margin and the most eye-wateringly violent conduct towards a completely innocent pet.
"Tweedie wrongly claimed Caillie was in immense pain, but in fact it was he who caused his animal to suffer in the most unimaginable way – both physically and mentally.
"To then dump Caillie in a ditch shows Tweedie's complete lack of remorse and how little regard he has for animals."
