24/08/2025
⚖️ SENIOR DETECTIVE & HER SON ON TRIAL FOR ALLEGED DOGNAPPING OF COCKAPOO PUPPY
A detective chief inspector and her son have gone on trial accused of dognapping a cockapoo puppy.
While it is the prosecution case that DCI Siobhan Ennis and her son Ryan stole the black and white pup from Mandy Graham in April 2022 after giving it to her, the top cop and her 29-year-old son claim the dog was a conditional gift.
The defence also contends they had concerns about the dog’s safety and that Miss Graham made her complaints about dog theft, after the friendship between her and the 57-year-old top cop broke down and turned sour.
The court heard claims that while Miss Graham expressed her love for Ennis and there had been romantic trysts, “more than kissing,” on a number of occasions, the detective told her that she was not gay.
During cross-examination, defence lawyers suggested the friendship broke down and soured after Ms Ennis embarked on a new relationship with a man.
DCI Ennis, with an address at PSNI Brooklyn and her son are jointly charged with theft of “a dog named Stella,” on 19 April 2022.
Ryan Ennis, from Portrush, is further charged with receiving stolen goods, “namely a dog named Stella, belonging to Mandy Graham, knowing or believing the same to be stolen goods,” between April 17-20.
Giving her evidence in chief, Miss Graham told prosecuting counsel Joseph Murphy how she works with cancer patients in the Causeway Hospital, often up to 60 hours a week, and that a friendship developed with the PSNI detective after a mutual friend introduced them.
In late 2021, coming up to the Christmas period, dogs owned by Ennis and her son had a litter of cockapoo puppies and the court heard the agreement between mother and son was that Siobhan Ennis would “get the pick of the litter.”
According to Miss Graham, the defendant picked a black and white puppy which the witness had given the name Stella, and it was between Christmas and New Year when Ennis told her “that she was mine.”
She told Mr Murphy she had been in Ennis’ house with everyone having drinks and when she came back from the bathroom, “there was a dog lead sitting where I had been.”
Describing how it was a “very small” pink lead, Miss Graham said she asked what that was for and Ennis told her “the wee dog was mine, the wee black and white one, Stella.”
Ennis allegedly told her Stella was “my gift to you” and the court heard that among more than 600 pages of text and WhatsApp messages printed off by the complainant, it was the following day when Miss Graham sent Ennis a message stating: “Are you serious? She’s mine? I can’t believe you would do that for me. Is Ryan OK with it?”
“She said ‘he is completely ok with it’,” the court heard.
Miss Graham said it was on the day Stella was chipped at the vets “and it was put in my name,” that she took the puppy home for the first time on 27 January.
She told Mr Murphy she had planned to use “doggy day care” to look after Stella while she was at work, but that Ennis told her to bring the pup back to her house and she would look after her.
When she had the dog to herself, she told the court how they would meet friends in local cafes and go for walks on the beach, but anytime she suggested using doggy daycare instead of Ennis or suggested taking Stella to puppy classes, “I was overruled and told no, just bring her here.”
“It was like I was being controlled through the dog,” Miss Graham told the prosecutor.
The court heard that after she dropped Stella to the defendant’s home on 18 April 2022, she never got the puppy back and for a time, Ennis refused to answer calls or texts.
At one point, when she called at Ennis’ home to collect Stella, the DCI was in her car “and I could see Stella’s wee head in the back window and she was trying to get out to me.”
When Miss Graham sent a message demanding to know “when can I collect my dog,” Ennis did not reply immediately but eventually told her: “You may take it up with Ryan. She’s with him. I want nothing more to do with this arrangement.”
“I rang the police right away,” Miss Graham told Mr Murphy, “it was my dog and I had a right to fight for her.”
Under cross-examination from Sean Mullan, defence counsel for the senior detective, she refuted the suggestion that “you expressed your love for Siobhan Ennis,” telling the barrister “definitely not.”
He put to her however that after she expressed her feelings to the defendant, Ennis told her she was not interested but that “if I were gay, you would be the one pet.”
“She is clearly telling you that she is not gay,” defence counsel put to her, but Miss Graham claimed there had been a number of occasions when the former friends, “became romantic…more than kissing.”
Suggesting that out of the 60 days Miss Graham had Stella, “she was with the defendant 58 days,” Mr Mullan further suggested that part of the “contract” of the complainant being allowed to keep Stella was dependent on the pup’s welfare.
He put to the witness “there were concerns about the way you were behaving about the dog” and with Ennis developing a relationship with a man, “your behaviour becomes more erratic, you are getting more cross about their relationship and then your relationship with her breaks down and the contract is removed.”
Miss Graham was adamant however, “there was no contract, you can see in the text messages that the dog was a gift.”
“You wanted to have a dig at Siobhan Ennis,” Mr Mullan put to her, “you knew her position in the police and her reputation and you set out to destroy her.”
“I do not care about her reputation,” declared Miss Graham, “all I wanted was my dog.”
“There is no point twisting anything, at the end of the day Stella was my dog,” she told the court.
The contest will continue this Friday.
At hearing.
ENDS
Copy by Paul Higgins
Photos: DCI Siobhan Ennis, her former friend Mandy Graham and the puppy at the centre of the trial
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