A TEENAGER was sentenced at court yesterday, for causing unnecessary suffering to a pit bull dog.

Aaron Michael Robinson, 19, who lived at Peel Street, in Middlesbrough ,at the time of the offence, admitted he had failed to take the dog, which was under-fed and suffering from ear infections, to the vet.

Robinson, who now lives a centre for young homeless people in Middlesbrough, was fined £250 at Hartlepool Magistrates Court and banned from keeping any animal for ten years.

He had pleaded guilty to two counts of causing unnecessary suffering to a dog at an earlier hearing. The court heard Bonnie was suffering from an ear infection and a chronic skin disease, but Robinson did not take the female dog to a vet.

John Ellwood, prosecuting for the RSPCA, said: “He simply did not care for the dog properly,” he said.

“The dog was thin and her ribs could be seen through her fur. The rear yard was covered in excrement and there was no water available for the dog to drink.”

Simon Walker, defending, said Robinson had been in care from the age of five and was vulnerable and naive with no family support system.

His partner, who had claimed joint benefits with Robinson, had left him and for a time Robinson had no income at all.

“It wasn’t just the dog doing without food but this young man himself,” he said, adding that Robinson wasn’t aware the PDSA charity will pay for veterinary care for people in severe financial circumstances.

Bonnie has since been rehomed by the RSPCA.