Man blames dog - and sheriff takes his lead
Published: May 26, 2005
NOT quite a shaggy-dog story from Shetland, but it ranks up there with the old schoolboy excuse, “Please, sir, the dog ate my homework.”
But a mutt did indeed take the rap at Lerwick Sheriff Court yesterday for a man breaching a tagging order imposed by the court earlier this year.
John Presley Neill, 24, told the court that his dog had chewed through the electronic tag attached to his ankle while he was asleep.
Amazingly, Sheriff Graeme Napier seemed to accept Neil’s claim, but somehow never inquired if, by any chance, it was called Old Shep.
Neil had earlier blamed his hound-dog for causing the accident which landed him in court in the first place, for driving without due care and attention, in Lerwick last October.
At the time, he told the court that the dog had jumped into his lap while he was driving, causing him to collide with a crash barrier.
Sheriff Napier chose not to punish him for breaching his nine-month tagging order, and, in a judgment worthy of Solomon, made a scapegoat out of the dog - something Professor Ian Wilmut and the Roslin Institute haven’t even been able to do.
Sheriff Napier added there should be no temptation for either man or dog to “get rid of the tag”.
Neil said it would not be a problem: “I have now got rid of the dog.”
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