Cory James Gilliand-Dickson, 20, appeared in the Dunedin District Court yesterday for the final day of his judge-alone trial.
On Monday, he pleaded guilty to a charge of ill-treating an animal, but was defending charges of assault in a family relationship, assaulting a child, threatening to kill and supplying cannabis, stemming from incidents between January and May last year.
Yesterday, Gilliand-Dickson gave evidence about the alleged events and vehemently denied all of them.
When asked about photos of injuries to his partner and her baby, he said his partner’s brothers, who were living with them at the time, had caused the injuries.
He said he had a "very happy, very cheerful" relationship with his partner and an "amazing" connection with her child.
Gilliand-Dickson admitted to drop-kicking his partner’s kitten, leaving it unable to walk, and needing to be killed.
A witness said the next day the defendant dug the pet up and cut its head off.
But yesterday the defendant denied digging up the kitten, despite admissions in his police interview.
He told police he dug the cat up "to see what it looked like" and was worried about it decaying and causing bad smells that might attract pests.
"I’m not no, like, serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer-type s..." he said.
But yesterday, he told the court: "I did not dig up the cat, or decapitate the cat".
He said it must have been a typo in the transcript of his police interview or an issue with the recording.
"There is quite a bit missing from that DVD interview," he said.
He claimed the video did not include a part of the interview where he said he was not someone who liked to hunt and would not kill a deer or a pig.
Gilliand-Dickson said his partner’s brothers, who were living with them at the time, were to blame for abuse to his partner and her baby.
One the brothers accused the defendant of feeding the baby beer from a sippy cup, but Gilliand-Dickson said it was actually the brother who fed the baby alcohol.
"[The baby] was fed alcohol and was sick the next morning, but I was not the one who provided him with alcohol," Gilliand-Dickson said.
"The brother had a bottle in his hand and he was putting his finger in there and then rubbing it in his mouth."
He said that progressed to the brother tipping alcohol into the baby’s mouth from the beer bottle.
Gilliand-Dickson claimed he took the alcohol away from the baby.
He admitted he sometimes told the baby to "shut up" and might mutter swear words under his breath, but never laid hands on him.
The two brothers earlier gave evidence they saw Gilliand-Dickson hit the baby on the head with a spoon.
He said that never happened and he only ever "booped" the baby on the nose with a spoon when he was feeding him.
Gilliand-Dickson said bruises on his partner’s neck could be easily explained — they were hickeys.
A bruise on her arm had been there since before he dated her, and she had a skin condition which could explain the mark, he said.
He said her brother would kick and punch her but he never would.
"She’s sitting there daily saying [to her brother] ‘Ow, leave me alone’," he said.
He said on one occasion the baby got a bruise from being left alone in a room by the brother.
"[He] crawled off his bed and smashed his face on the bedside table," he said.
Judge Hermann Retzlaff reserved his decision, but will deliver the verdicts next month.
felicity.dear@odt.co.nz . Court reporter
