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A district judge warned a mother-of-three she faced being “sent downstairs” if she continued her repeated outbursts during a trial at Teesside Magistrates’ Court.

Suzanna Cooper had pleaded not guilty to being the owner of a dog dangerously out of control, but was convicted and the court ruled the dog must now be destroyed.

District judge Kristina Harrison levelled criticism at the 36-year-old as she delivered her verdict, adding: “This is because she, as the owner, has failed to do what the court has told her to do.”

‘If you do not be quiet you will be sent downstairs’

Cooper was scolded by district judge Harrison on more than one occasion during the trial on Monday.

“Will you be quiet,” she said after the defendant commented as a witness was giving testimony.

“If you do not be quiet you will be sent downstairs,” she later said after another outburst from Cooper, who then burst into tears.

Previously prosecuted

The court was told how Cooper had been prosecuted in court last year for owning a dog that was dangerously out of control.

Her five-year-old Staffordshire Bull Terrier, called Buster, was made the subject of a contingent destruction order that said he must have a lead and muzzle in public and must be neutered.

But the judge found that Cooper had failed to comply with that order when her dog was once again dangerously out of control as it fought with another canine on May 22 this year.

‘I could be raped or anything’

When quizzed in the witness stand about why her dog was not muzzled on the day of the incident, Cooper told prosecutor Anne Mitchell that she suffers from epileptic fits “nearly every day.”

She said she was going out to get some medication and took Buster with her.

Cooper told the court: “I knew I was due a fit that day. I have been robbed before, I thought I would risk it.”

She added: “I could be raped or anything while I have had fits.

“I know I shouldn’t have [taken Buster without a muzzle] but I was scared.”

She told the court that she had left the muzzle at a friend’s house.

‘I was very scared and terrified’

The court heard from the owner of the other dog that was attacked on Woodcock Close in Middlesbrough that they were scared as the incident unfolded.

The witness said that they had been walking on the path when they saw Cooper sitting on the kerb.

She said she crossed the road, only for Cooper’s dog to run at hers.

“I was very scared and terrified, I thought that the dog could bite me,” she said.

The witness then claimed to have called out to her dad who came running out of his house and separated the dogs using a plank of wood.

Neither dog suffered any serious injury during the fracas, but Cooper claimed the man “smacked me right on the arm.”

‘His tooth got stuck’

The defendant’s version of events on that day differed somewhat when she gave evidence.

Cooper, who was pregnant at the time, claimed she was sitting down as she was feeling dizzy and was worried she was about to have an epileptic fit.

She claimed that her dog was not the aggressor during the fight and said “his tooth got stuck on the hook” of the other dog’s collar as she tried to separate them.

She added that her dog had acted in retaliation.

Mitigating circumstances

The court was told in mitigation from a probation worker that Cooper had recently given birth in the last two weeks and was pregnant at the time of the incident.

The probation officer said that her life had been “chaotic” when the original contingent destruction order was made and she was “unaware that the dog needed to be neutered.”

She also said Cooper has a “long history of drug use.”

Simon Walker, defending, added that she is a mother-of-three who recently went through a pregnancy with “problems”.

He asked that the judge not to make a destruction order, claiming that Buster didn’t pose a threat to humans and had won awards at dog shows.

Guilty verdict

Judge Harrison found Cooper guilty of having a dog dangerously out of control at the conclusion of the trial.

She said she is “a dog lover” and “thought very, very long and hard on this matter.”

But the judge concluded that the defendant’s actions by failing to comply with the court order meant the dog needed to be destroyed.

Cooper, of Woodcock Close, Middlesbrough, was also banned from keeping dogs for five years, had six months extended to a previous suspended sentence, was given a 12 month community order with 20 rehabilitation activity requirement days and ordered to pay £620 in prosecution costs and £500 to the police.

She wept as the verdict was delivered.