A NEWPORT man was yesterday found guilty of causing unnecessary suffering to a puppy he had dressed in fairy wings and dropped during a drunken game of catch.

Lewis Wall failed to catch the 10-week old Papillion when it was thrown to him from the top of a flight of stairs, causing it horrific injuries which led to its death, Cwmbran Youth Court heard yesterday.

There was an attempt to impose reporting restrictions on the case, but the Argus successfully defended the right to identify an adult in youth court.

The 18-year-old of Monnow Way, Bettws, was found guilty by magistrates at his trial.

Gareth Evans, prosecuting told the court Wall had been out drinking in Newport city centre on December 4 last year, when he was invited back to a gathering at Kelly Hopkins’ Bettws home.

Ms Hopkins had bought her puppy Jessie for £200 a month earlier and the puppy was playing with some of the guests at her house into the early hours of December 5.

Kevin Bell, a guest at the gathering told the court he saw Wall put silver fairy wings onto the puppy in the kitchen.

He said Wall was standing at the bottom of the stairs when he saw the silver wings drop to the floor and heard a thud.

Ms Hopkins who said she did not know Wall before that night told the court she was asleep in her upstairs bedroom when her boyfriend at the time Ricky Morgan came in holding the puppy which appeared to be dead as its neck was flopping.

She said: “Ricky put a bit of water into Jessie’s mouth to see if it would wake him up but it didn’t.”

Ms Hopkins said she asked everyone to leave and after some of the group started banging on her front door, the police were called and Wall and Michael Baker, who had also thrown the puppy, were arrested.

A post mortem on Jessie’s body found the puppy’s skull and neck were broken and it had suffered a brain haemorrhage, shattered kneecap and trauma to its liver, lungs, intestine and abdomen.

Wall told the court he had thrown the puppy to Baker and when Baker threw it back down the stairs to him he caught it by cupping his arm.

Wall said Jessie did not appear to be injured and may have sustained the injuries later in the evening.

Baker was last month sentenced to eight weeks in prison for causing unnecessary suffering to the puppy.

Wall will be sentenced on May 11. He was released on unconditional bail.