British expat arrested over dog attack in Phuket. 15 year old dog ‘ok’.

PHOTO: Shop surveillance footage of the attack

A British expat, Mervyn “Merv” Harding, has now been charged over his attack on a 15 year old dog outside a massage shop in southern Phuket on Tuesday. CCTV footage caught the man parking his motorbike, pulling a metal rod from under the bike seat and then repeatedly beating the animal as it tried to run away.

43 year old Harding, from Plymouth in the UK, will now have to remain in custody after being refused bail at a hearing at the Phuket Provincial Court this morning. He turned himself into police and admitted to beating the dog in the southern Phuket town of Nai Harn.

Harding has admitted one charge of animal cruelty, one charge of trespassing and one charge of destroying property.

The shopowner, Yupaporn Keawduangdee, came out from the back of the shop to find her dog cowering on the ground with blood coming from its mouth. Tuesday was a Buddhist holiday in Thailand.

“Instead of going to the temple, I have to go to the police station.”

The old dog was a rescue pet that Yupaporn rescued following the Phuket tsunami in 2004 when he was only a puppy.

“He has been loyal and good to everyone. Now he’s old and weak and doesn’t deserve this in his final days.”

Shop and dog owner Yupaporn Keawduangdee

SOURCES: twnews.co.uk | mirror.co.uk