Couple jailed after child found behaving like a dog

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The Herald

By Damien Henderson

Social workers found four children shared their home with 22 dogs and lived in "appalling conditions" after one of the youngsters began growling and displaying dog-like behaviour at school, a court was told yesterday.
The children, aged five, eight, 12 and 13, had not been washed or clothed properly and were living in a house filled with dog faeces and urine, Arbroath Sheriff Court heard.
When officials visited the home in Carnoustie, Angus, last year they found excrement smeared over a pillow and on one of the walls. Two of the children were later found to have an infection caused by ingesting animal faeces.
Neighbours reported seeing them try to escape from upstairs bedroom windows.
A 35-year-old woman and a 60-year-old man, who cannot be identified to protect the children's identity, were each jailed for 70 days yesterday. They had earlier admitted neglecting the children in a manner likely to cause them unnecessary suffering or injury to their health.
Sheriff Norrie Stein said the maximum sentence he could impose was three months, but he had to deduct 20 days for their guilty plea.
Neighbours had reported concerns to the social work department. Teachers noticed that one of the children would growl, bark and try to squeeze into small spaces at school.
The neglect took place between May 1 and August 19 last year. Jailing the couple, the sheriff told them they had placed the children, who have since been taken into care, in the "most appalling of
conditions".
Fiscal Keith Robertson told the court that social workers had made visits to the house until the end of April 2005 and that matters "came to a head" at the beginning of September 2005.
A few weeks later social workers, environmental health officers and police made a joint visit to the house and found a "horrendous" scene.
Billy Rennie, for the defence, said two of the children suffered from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
When charged, the man replied: "That's my fault." The woman was also fined £200 on four separate charges involving some of the dogs. These included allowing one dog to chase a group of children.
Maggie Mellon, director of children and family services at the charity Children 1st, said the sentences given to the couple were "ridiculous". She said: "It would probably amount to 20 days in custody. It doesn't seem clear what the purpose of that is, to punish or rehabilitate them."