Mia De Merzo – Bucknall

A woman locked her 13-year-old dog in her bathroom for five days with no food or water – while nobody was at home.

Mia De Merzo, 26 left American Bulldog Zara in the property in Heming Place, Bucknall

The court heard police officers turned up at the property for another matter and found the emaciated dog inside the bathroom in squalid conditions surrounded by faeces

De Merzo claimed she’d left the dog in the bathroom so that it had access to water via the tap and toilet, and she said she was throwing food through the window for it to eat. However no evidence supported that.

Police officers took the dog to a vets and it is since said to be doing well.

The court heard De Merzo gave full admissions upon her arrest. She has now been banned from keeping pets for five years.

Lee Stone, prosecuting, said: “These matters go back to April 16 this year when officers attended Heming Place for unrelated matters, but noted the property was not in a good state and there was a dog there in an emaciated state, living in squalor conditions, with no food or water. It was living in its own faeces and was kept in a bathroom.

It was clear this wasn’t something that hadn’t happened overnight because the state of the property and the state the dog was in led them to believe it had been there for some time.

“Police officers took the dog to the vets. The defendant returned to the address and officers arrested her for cruelty offences.

She was candid and said she was responsible for Zara and she had had the dog for a number of years but due to domestic issues, she wasn’t coming back to the address.

She said she hadn’t come back to feed the dog or got her rehomed. This was a long term incident involving this dog. This was a prolonged incident of cruelty and neglect.”

She was handed a community order which includes 20 rehabilitation activity requirement days. She was also ordered to pay an £80 fine, £85 costs and a £114 surcharge