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Pictured: Man accused of ‘leaving dog to die in ditch after beating it with crowbar’

Solicitor for accused denies charges and tells court client is living under a death threat

Paul Higgins

Today at 19:43

This is the Belfast man who has denied whacking a dog over the head with an iron bar and leaving it in a ditch to die.

Adam Watt was due to go on trial at Ballymena Magistrates Court on January 24 but did not show because he is under a death threat, his lawyer said.

The court was also told he had “received a beating from the UDA in 2018” and had not been back in Larne since, even though he has a child who lives there.

Watt, whose address in Belfast cannot be published, was to stand trial for causing unnecessary suffering to a black crossbreed dog called Diesel at a property on the Glenarm Road in Larne in August last year.

Co-accused John Little, from Torr Gardens in Larne, did turn up, with his lawyer saying the 19-year-old was pleading guilty to the same charge as Watt.

The court was told Watt blamed Little for the incident, in which the dog was struck with an iron crowbar and left to die in a ditch.

The animal made a full recovery and has since been rehomed with a loving family.

Adjourning the case against Watt to February 7, District Judge Nigel Broderick told the defence he wanted further information from the police as to whether the alleged threat was real.

He adjourned passing sentence against Little until March, pending a report.