Cornwall man jailed for shooting sister's donkey dead
A man from Cornwall has been jailed for shooting his sister's donkey dead after an argument.
Bodmin magistrates heard at an earlier hearing that Darrell Duffill shot the donkey with an air rifle in February.
Duffill, 54, who lived in a cabin on land owned by his sister near Looe at the time, had drunk half a bottle of rum before the attack, the court heard.
Duffill had admitted criminal damage and was jailed for 56 days and ordered to pay his sister £200 compensation.
Magistrates heard the defendant shot the donkey in the temple with the rifle, followed by two more shots as it lay on the ground on 28 February.
His sister, Carolyn Jones, found the 10-year-old donkey, Claude, in a pool of blood in his stable.
Despite the crime, his defence solicitor claimed in court that Duffill was an "animal lover".
Duffill, currently of no fixed abode, was also ordered not to contact his sister except through solicitors.
An order was also issued to seize and destroy the rifle.
Twenty-one days was taken off Duffill's sentence because of time he had already spent in custody after his arrest.