A mum has demanded a jail sentence for a thug who attacked her dog and fired shots into her garden.
Emma Davis was walking past neighbour Paul Ritchie's home with four children and her dog when he kicked the animal into the air for no reason. He then shot at them with a paintball gun, prompting emergency services to race to the scene in Dolphinton, Lanarkshire.
Emma said she believes Ritchie will “end up killing someone” if he is not jailed, Lanarkshire Live reports. Ritchie, 36, was previously jailed for 12 months after sending threats of violence in “vile” emails to politicians, including former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford.
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Emma said: “This man needs to be jailed again but he must also get medical help. People like him end up slipping through the net and killing someone. There has been an escalation in his behaviour.”
Ritchie appeared at Airdrie Sheriff Court, having admitted at a previous hearing culpably and recklessly discharging a paintball gun in the direction of Emma, a boy aged eight and three 15-year-old lads. He also admitted causing Emma’s Staffordshire terrier unnecessary suffering and assaulting two police officers, headbutting and spitting at one and kicking another in the October 2020 incident.
Emma added: “It was horrific. I genuinely thought the children were going to die. It didn’t make any sense – it was crazy behaviour.
Her 14-year-old dog Maya was so traumatised by the incident she later had to be put down.
When shown a photograph of the paintball gun, Sheriff Joseph Hughes said: “I can see why people thought it was a gun. It really is quite a scary item.”
Sheriff Hughes deferred sentence last Wednesday to get an assessment of Ritchie’s mental state.
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