Dog owner threatened man with violence

A DOG owner who threatened to turn violent after his Staffordshire terrier attacked another man’s dog has been ordered to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work.

Mark Rushby, 17, of Haldane Burgess Crescent, Lerwick, made the threats towards a fellow dog owner on 14 January.

Both men had been walking their dogs in the town that day. After his dog attacked the other man’s pet, Rushby threatened violence if the complainer reported what had happened to police.

The complainer then returned home but later the same day Rushby turned up on his doorstep armed with a piece of wood with two screws attached.

When the man’s wife answered the door, Rushby shouted at her and repeated his threat of violence towards her husband should anything happen to his dog.

While he was on bail following that incident, five days later police caught Rushby “red handed” in the north of Lerwick. He was trying the doors of parked cars – leading officers to suspect he intended to steal.

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Procurator fiscal Duncan MacKenzie said the complainant and his wife had felt “alarmed and threatened” by Rushby’s behaviour.

Defence agent Tommy Allan said his client admitted the threats had been “completely out of order and must have been terrifying for the people involved”. 

In addition to the unpaid work, Sheriff William Taylor sentenced Rushby to a one year community payback order.