Man who burned dog alive to be sentenced in Belfast

A man who admitted setting fire to a family’s pet dog is due to be sentenced today.

Andrew Richard Stewart, 23, has been warned to expect jail after pleading guilty to causing unnecessary cruelty to an animal in August 2012.

Stewart, from Wellington Parks, Moira, Craigavon, Co Armagh, had denied the charge for two years but made a last-minute change of plea on the second day of his trial in Belfast last month.

Cody, a three-year-old Collie, was so badly burned her ribs and other joints were visible through the charred flesh. She survived for two weeks but had to be put down after vets concluded the animal would never fully recover.

Co-accused Jamie Downey 23, of Chestnut Hall Avenue, also in Moira, admitted a lesser charge of perverting the course of justice and is also due to be sentenced tomorrow.

The case sparked widespread public revulsion and more than 60,000 people pledged support for the Justice for Cody Facebook campaign.

Animal rights campaigners are expected to stage a show of support for the dog’s owners Natalie and Martin Agnew outside the Laganside court complex ahead of the sentencing.

After the convictions last month, Mrs Agnew said the past two years had been “very stressful” and urged the court to impose the maximum sentences.

She said: “It has been horrendous. The effect this has had on the children, let alone what they actually did to the poor dog.

“The effect it has had on my two boys is still ongoing. They have had to have counselling, sleepless nights, nightmares.

“It has been awful hard to come to terms with ourselves and trying to explain to children when we can’t understand or fathom it ourselves is very hard. We are still dealing with those issues.”

An internet fund set up by well-wishers in Cody’s name has so far raised £30,000 for animal shelters in Northern Ireland and the Guide Dogs Association.

A guide dog has also been named in Cody’s honour.

The Agnew family now have two new dogs.