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Welsh Labour


7 News ‘Unscrupulous monster’ stole Pomeranian A PONTYATES man was found


guilty of stealing a pedigree dog, following a trial at Llanelli Magistrates’ Court last Friday (Jan 13). Silas Jamie Lee, of Herberdeg Road,


with Lee Waters AM FROM September 1,


children in Llangennech who do not want a Welsh-medium education will have to go outside their village to get it. The move is justified by


the council because the last census showed a decline in the number of Welsh speakers in Carmarthenshire, and is part of the measures needed to achieve the Welsh Government’s target of doubling the number of Welsh speakers to one million by 2050. Whilst Carmarthenshire


Councillors were voting to set aside the objections from 757 people in Llangennech, I was in the Senedd scrutinising the Minister for the Welsh Language, Alun Davies, on the way councils are converting schools like Llanegennech from dual-stream schools, where English and Welsh are taught side-by-side, into Welsh- medium schools. “We need to take great care


in the way we deal with it,” the Minister told me. He and I share the ambition to ensure that all 16-year-olds are able to speak Welsh by the time they leave school, and continue to use it in everyday life. And we both want to maintain the goodwill that there has been towards the Welsh language. I went to school in a primary


much like Llanegennech, and I’ve always admired the way the children from different language backgrounds are educated together, and the way in which children who are not taught in Welsh are nonetheless exposed to the language everyday. This is in stark contrast to most primary schools where Heads struggle to recruit teachers and support


staff who can speak Welsh. Children are often taught by adults who themselves not able to speak Welsh, and often leave school barely able to speak the language. Carmarthenshire plans to


turn all dual-stream schools into Welsh-medium schools over the coming years. Where there are easily accessible English-medium schools nearby, this may not attract much comment, but in villages like Llanegennech there’s a risk that approach may be similarly divisive. I don’t want to see that. “We need different in different


approaches


areas,” Alun Davies told the Assembly’s Culture and Welsh Language Committee this week. “I hope we can move away from negative debates and take time to reflect. Does a bilingual school deliver bilingual people? If not, why not? Let’s have that debate without negativity,” Alun Davies added. I have deliberately not tried


to use this issue to score points against the Plaid Cymru-led council. I do, however, disagree with their approach. Rather than creating ever more Welsh- medium schools, I would prefer to focus on improving the quality of Welsh teaching for children who are not currently well served, and to run English- medium schools into bilingual ones. The Welsh Government


will be looking at the best way of achieving its ambition of doubling the number of Welsh speakers by 2050, and I hope that the need to avoid the division we have seen in Llanegennech can be avoided.


pleaded not guilty to a charge of theft by finding when he appeared in court at the start of December. He maintained that plea at his trial. Magistrates considered Lee’s claim


that he was acting in the interest of the dog’s welfare to be ‘difficult to believe and implausible’. Prosecuting, Sian Vaughan said


that the Crown’s position was that the complainant, Sandra Roberts, had her pet Pomeranian bitch, ‘Silky’, stolen from the grounds of her Llanybri house. Ms Vaughan told the court that Ms


Roberts had been at home on the morning of November 1, having returned from taking Silky to the vet in Swansea. The dog had been scheduled to


have an operation on a long-standing leg problem, but this had been cancelled because she had been unwell and had lost weight. She had answered the door to Lee,


who asked if she had any scrap batteries. Lee then noticed Silky ‘running around making herself known’. Lee said that she was ‘a lovely dog’


before asking Ms Roberts if she bred them for sale. Ms Roberts said she did, and Lee asked her for a contact number so she could get in touch when any pups were ready for sale. Ms Roberts went into the house at


Lee’s request to get a pen and paper. While she was gone, Lee picked up the dog and handed it to the passenger in his pick-up truck. Ms Roberts did not initially notice


that the dog was missing, but after a short while became alarmed and watched CCTV footage which clearly showed the theft.


After the complainant and her family


‘bombarded’ social media, the dog was returned at around 8.30pm. In a police interview, Lee said he was


concerned about the dog’s condition and had taken it to a vet in Carmarthen, only to find the practice had closed down. He then worried that if he took it to another vet they might think it was stolen, so returned Silky by dropping her outside her house. In her statement, Ms Roberts, a


registered breeder, said that she had become concerned quickly because ‘Silky never leaves my side’. After viewing the CCTV, Ms Roberts


phoned her son, who posted an image of Lee taking the dog on social media. PC Brown, who arrested Lee, said


that when they arrived at his house he said ‘I’ve been waiting for you guys to turn up – I know what this is about’. Under cross-examination in court, Lee said that he had visited a friend to try


Stolen: Silky the Pomeranian


and get a waste car battery for an electric fence to protect his chickens. The friend had been out, and on the drive back he had stopped to ask Ms Roberts if she had any scrap batteries. When asked why he didn’t buy a new battery, he said: “I’m not paying £80 for a battery for an electric fence.” Ms Vaughan asked why, if Lee had


concerns for the dog’s welfare, he had said nothing to Ms Roberts. He answered that he ‘wasn’t thinking straight’. When Ms Vaughan asked why Lee


was unwilling to pay £80 for a battery but took a dog for treatment which would have cost far more, he admitted that he was going to leave the dog at the vet. “You were just going to give the dog to a stranger?” Ms Vaughan asked. “No, I was going to give it to a vet,”


he replied. Ms Vaughan also pointed out that


Silky could be seen on the CCTV footage ‘jumping around and wagging her tail’, which contradicted his claim that she was badly injured. Lee disagreed. His claim that he


was aware there was a CCTV camera recording his actions was not accepted by the prosecution. Lee accused Ms Vaughan of not believing what he was saying. “I don’t believe it because it is a ridiculous story,” she replied. However, Lee said that on this


occasion he had taken the dog with good intentions. “When I have done wrong in the past, I have always put my hands up,”


he said. Representing Lee, Richard Morgan


said it was ‘important to consider what was going through Lee’s mind when he took the dog’. He pointed out that Lee’s claim


that the animal appeared injured was borne out by Ms Roberts, given that she was due to have had an operation that morning, and asked why Lee would have left his telephone number if he had been committing an offence of dishonesty. Ms Vaughan pointed out that the


mobile number Lee had left did not work. Magistrates took an hour to find Lee


guilty of dishonestly taking Silky. “The CCTV footage was compelling, and we do not accept you were aware of the CCTV,” they added. “Your account is difficult to believe and implausible”. A victim impact statement from Ms


Roberts was read out, in which she said: "I believe that without the social media posts, I believe this unscrupulous monster of a man would not have brought my dog back." Ms Roberts added that she feared Lee


or his associates would return and take her dog again. After hearing a report from the


probation service, Lee was given a 12 month community order, with a 15 day rehabilitation activity requirement, fined £120, ordered to pay Ms Roberts £100 compensation for distress caused, along with prosecution costs of £620.


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