A man who was caught on camera violently abusing his landlord’s dogs - causing them to yelp and scream in pain - has been sentenced to a ten year animal ban and a suspended prison sentence.
Michal Kulesza, who now lives in Aviemore, was sentenced to a total of 42 weeks in custody, suspended for two years, and disqualified from keeping animals for ten years when he appeared before Bristol Magistrates Court on October 28.
The RSPCA prosecuted Kulesza after they were handed 25 video clips - taken in just two days- showing the repeated abuse of two terrified dogs.
The court heard how Kulesza moved in as a lodger into his landlord’s home in Chepstow Road, Bristol in December 2021. Also in the home were two Jack Russell dogs belonging to his live-in landlord, three-year-old Rocky, and seven-year-old Sonia.
RSPCA solicitor Lindi Meyer, who represented the animal welfare charity in court, said: “Kulesza was not known to his landlord before this time. However soon after he moved in it was noticed that the dogs had started to behave differently and appeared nervous around the defendant.
“As a result of this, the landlord installed CCTV in the kitchen and the living room and informed the defendant that he was doing so.
“On 29 March he was able to download and view footage which showed Kulesza violently abusing his little dogs on a number of occasions – particularly singling out Rocky for the abuse.”
Kuleza was immediately told to pack his bags and leave and his landlord contacted the animal welfare charity.
RSPCA Inspector Dan Hatfield was shown two pieces of the CCTV footage which showed Kulesza repeatedly punching Rocky resulting in him yelping and screaming.
The CCTV, which was downloaded and passed to the RSPCA, showed 25 clips of incidents with Kulesza and the dogs which had taken place over two days.
In one of the clips, the dogs are in their bed in a corner to the left of a large fridge. Kulesza can be heard shouting and Rocky comes in and gets on the bed.
Kulesza enters, kneels in front of the dog on the bed and raises his arm with a clenched fist.
He then brings it down on Rocky with considerable force four times, before changing his swing and punching the dog a further seven times while Rocky yelps with each blow he receives.
In another clip, he can be seen aggressively pulling the dogs’ bed from under them, while in another he is filmed kicking Rocky. Additional clips capture the dogs’ yelping, screaming, and being repeatedly struck by Kulesza.
In none of the clips are the dogs misbehaving in any way and the violence is unprovoked.
During interview, Kulesza, who pleaded guilty to two animal welfare offences in court, said he was unable to explain or justify his actions, describing himself as being in a rage and state of heightened anxiety and that the dogs had done nothing to him.
He later said in court he was grieving his girlfriend who had died in a car accident five years ago in his homeland.
Solicitor Lindi Meyer added: “This was a particularly nasty case in which two helpless dogs were needlessly physically and mentally abused.
"The physical and mental suffering the dogs were subjected was blatantly unnecessary and avoidable.
“Rocky was subjected to and suffered repeatedly from acute pain and some of this would become more chronic – and the tail pull injury would have been particularly painful.
“He suffered from persistent high levels of stress and anxiety due to the physical as well as the violent verbal abuse directed at him.
“The CCTV shows the suffering over two days but given the change in the dogs’ behaviour leading to the installation of the CCTV, it is believed that it had been going on throughout the start of the year.”
As well as the suspended sentence Kulesza was also ordered to carry out 250 hours unpaid work and 20 Rehabilitation Activity Requirement (RAR) days and must pay £200 costs and a £128 victim surcharge.
After the hearing, Inspector Hatfeld said: “He was in a position of trust, living in the home and being left in the home with the dogs.
"In the victim impact statement, the owner of Rocky and Sonia said that since these incidents took place, he is still extremely upset by what happened to his dogs and struggles to trust people.
"He said that both Rocky and Sonia are well and have gone back to their normal selves and are now less nervous around people but are still worried and jumpy around sudden movements.”
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