A man who violently treated his landlord's dogs has been banned from keeping animals for ten years and given a suspended prison sentence. Michal Kulesza, 46, appeared before Bristol Magistrates' Court on October 28 and was sentenced to a total of 42 weeks in custody, suspended for two years.
The RSPCA had been handed 25 video clips from over a two day period of sustained abuse, during which Kulesza caused the two dogs to yelp and scream in pain. Kulesza had moved into his landlord's home as a lodger in Chepstow Road, Bristol, back in December 2021.
Also living at the landlord's property were his two Jack Russell dogs - seven-year-old Sonia and three-year-old Rocky. RSPCA solicitor Lindi Meyer, who represented the animal welfare charity in court, said: “Kulesza was not known to his landlord before this time.
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“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 March 29, 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.”
The landlord contacted the animal welfare charity RSPCA and immediately told Kulesza to pack his bags and leave. RSPCA Inspector Dan Hatfield was shown two sections of CCTV footage which “showed Kulesza repeatedly punching Rocky resulting in him yelping and screaming”.
One of the clips shows the dogs in their bed in a corner, next to a fridge. Kulesza is heard raising his voice when Rocky enters and gets onto his bed.
Kulesza follows, kneels in front of the dog on the bed and raises his arm with a clenched fist. Police say 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 is filmed kicking Rocky, and in a different one again, Kulesza is seen aggressively pulling the dogs’ bed from under them. Further clips capture the dogs’ yelping, screaming, and being repeatedly struck by Kulesza.
There is no misbehaviour on the part of the dogs shown by CCTV footage, with the violence appearing to be 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.
Warning: The video below contains distressing footage of animal abuse
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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