A puppy is the ‘lead’ witness in a court case in Mayo

Odds are we’ve all tried to get out of jury duty at one stage or another, but this is one particular case you really wouldn’t want to miss if you got the chance to take part.

By Eoghan Doherty

A Judge in Mayo has adjourned a drink driving case to next July after it turned out that the lead witness in the case is a German Schnauzer puppy.

That’s right, a dog. Let's hope the Guards aren't barking up the wrong tree in this particular one.

According to a story in The Mayo News, Ballindine local Ms. Amona Elder was awoken by her dog barking at 5.30am on the morning of October 7 last. When she emerged from her house she found Irishtown local, Joe McNamara, asleep in the driver’s seat of an on-its-side jeep, in a ditch, and with a “glorious smell of Christmas” coming from the vehicle.

How you sleep through a jeep overturning into a ditch we’ll never know, but we’re pretty sure he was feeling a bit ‘ruff’ after the incident.

The case has now been adjourned due to a dispute over the time the incident took place and, because the lead witness does happen to be a dog, as the Judge rightly points out, “there isn’t much they can do without Doctor Dolittle.”

Commenting on the case, the Judge believed that it was the first time that a dog had been witness to the time of driving in a case like this. That’s what she thinks though.

In 2008, a French court called a dog named Scooby to be a witness in a murder trial, just to see how the animal reacted to a potential suspect.

The dog “barked furiously” at the suspect in question but maybe that had something to do with the fact that the man on trial may have been more of a cat person.

Whatever happens though, let’s just hope this ‘tail’ has a happy ending for all involved and that the alleged perpetrator has a new ‘leash’ on life once the case is closed.