Compliments Daily Telegraph Sydney

Trainer Terry Darragh guilty of Go Bronco's death

WHEN Terry Darragh's girlfriend failed to show at Wentworth Park dog races, he became anxious.

The greyhound trainer's partner had been receiving text messages from an ex-boyfriend, who had just finished a five-year prison term for attacking someone with an iron bar.

What was more, Darragh believed the ex-boyfriend had damaged his car and broken into his Merrylands home on previous occasions, all part of a ploy to steal back his old flame.

The ordeal had left Darragh with adjustment disorder, anxiety and depression, his lawyer Benjamin Goh told Balmain Local Court yesterday.

His girlfriend's absence at the racetrack led him to think she was secretly seeing her ex-boyfriend and "intensified Mr Darragh's condition that night," Mr Goh said.

Darragh was applying for section 32 mental health treatment after being charged with the death of greyhound Go Bronco which was under his care.

Mr Goh said his client had started a "treatment plan" and had started anti-depressants, which would help his rehabilitation more than a possible prison sentence of one year.

However Magistrate Ross Clugston dismissed the application, citing the seriousness of Darragh's offence.

"It's my view given the serious nature of these charges, that they be dealt with under a court of law," Mr Clugston said.

Yesterday he pleaded guilty to charges of animal cruelty, false representation to police, failure to give details after a car accident, and negligent driving.

Police said Darragh dumped his Commodore in Glebe on the evening of January 12 after colliding with a bus in Glebe Point Rd.

The dog was left caged in the back, where it had been put after racing earlier that night.

Rather than report the incident, Darragh ran away, leaving the car window ajar for the dog, and reported the car stolen at 8.30am the next day.

He left no water for the animal despite temperatures of over 40C and high humidity.

About 11.30am the next day, a witness heard the dog "howling in apparent agony from within the vehicle", according to a police statement tendered to the court.

Go Bronco, 2½ years old and valued at $10,000, was taken to a vet but died of dehydration and heat exhaustion the following Wednesday night.

Darragh will be sentenced on July 16.