Reginald Robert Ozanne (50) admitted killing 11-year-old Star and was in June sentenced in the Dunedin District Court to two and a-half years imprisonment.
The slaying in February 2019 rocked the tight-knit community and rumours swirled as weeks passed without an arrest.
Ozanne was eventually charged after police executed a search warrant at his home and it is believed they found blood on the sole of a shoe there.
The defendant said he had no memory of the night because he had been drinking home-distilled whisky while on painkillers, but accepted he must have been the killer.
Although Ozanne said he would never hurt Star’s owners, Mandy Mayhem-Bullock and her family, just weeks after sentencing he lodged an appeal.
A date was set in November for that to be heard.
However, the Otago Daily Times was told yesterday that appeal would be abandoned.
Ms Mayhem-Bullock was staggered that there was yet another twist in the tale.
“I don’t believe it. What’s the next thing?” she said.
“This guy keeps on saying one thing and doing the other.”
Because of the time Ozanne has spent behind bars, he will come before the Parole Board this week for the first time.
Ms Mayhem-Bullock hoped she would be able to address the board before the hearing.
All she wanted from Ozanne was genuine acceptance of blame.
“Again and again I just wish he’d own his actions. I know people have blackouts when they’re in a complete state but I don’t believe there isn’t a time when it comes creeping back,” she said.
Judge Michael Crosbie, at sentencing, called the man’s actions “cruel, if not barbaric, seen in the number of wounds inflicted on this harmless family pet”.
The fact Ozanne had fronted media to stress his innocence soon after the attack was a further aggravating factor, he said.
