Photo: BC SPCA

A Vancouver Island man has been sentenced to jail for fatally beating a four-month-old puppy.

The BC chapter of the SPCA says Robert Carolan of Duncan was handed a sentence of four months and is banned from owning animals for 10 years.

He has also been placed on probation for three years.

SPCA spokeswoman Marcie Moriarty says in a news release that necropsy results for the mixed-breed puppy show it had suffered blunt force trauma to its head and right rib.

Probable cause of death was listed as related to the rib injury, which stopped the puppy from fully inflating its lungs.

The SPCA's investigation found Carolan claimed the puppy accidentally drowned after he placed it in a bathtub and left the room, but the society says Carolan could not explain the dog's other significant injuries.

Moriarty says jail time was warranted in this case.

"It is heartbreaking to think of how much this poor puppy suffered and the terror he would have experienced before succumbing to his injuries," she says in the release.