A disagreement about who was responsible for the care of a neglected dog that had to be euthanised has seen former George Town neighbours face off in court.
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Samuel Gregory Barker, 32, of Moonah, was charged with one count of aggravated cruelty after his bull terrier was confiscated by the RSPCA and euthanised in October 2018.
Mr Barker has pleaded not guilty and a hearing of the case concluded at Launceston Magistrates Court on Tuesday.
Called to give evidence were Joanne and Matthew Mathers, a mother and son who lived opposite Mr Barker at George Town where the alleged offence occurred.
Mrs Mathers told the court three dogs were living at the Grindrod Avenue property across from her and she reported concern for their welfare to the RSPCA.
"The dogs were always barking and crying, they had slowly stopped barking and crying," she said.
According to Mrs Mathers, when Mr Barker lived at the George Town property permanently the dogs were looked after, but that changed when he started spending long periods of time away in Hobart.
"When they were there I never saw any cruelty," she said.
When Matthew Mathers gave evidence he revealed Mr Barker asked him to keep an eye on the house while it was unattended.
But Mr Mathers rejected a line of questioning from Mr Barker's lawyer Mark Doyle, who suggested Mr Mathers had been asked to also look out for the dogs in addition to the house.
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When Mr Mathers shared his mother's concerns for the dogs welfare, he said he looked over Mr Barker's fence and saw the dogs were "pretty skinny".
Mr Mathers told the court he used Facebook to alert Mr Barker to the condition the dogs were in and then put a bag of dog food over the fence.
"I was never asked to do it, I was never given money to be able to do it. I'd never been told what they eat," he said.
Mr Mathers later said Mr Barker asked him once to feed the dogs and offered to pay for the dog food.
The dogs had access to a bucket of water but Mr Mathers said he never filled the bucket because the dogs would "always bark and carry on a lot" and were in a separate enclosure within the backyard.
Police prosecutor Matt Hill told the court Mr Barker made no permanent arrangement for anyone to look after the dog.
"No one other than Mr Barker was responsible," Mr Hills said.
"...he made no attempt to contact the RSPCA to check where his dogs had gone."
Magistrate Ken Stanton will deliver his verdict on February 25.