Hardened SPCA officers have been shocked by the brutal slaying of an 18-month-old Jack Russell dog in Dunedin.
Supermarket stock filler Jeffrey Robin Hurring (19) yesterday pleaded guilty in the Dunedin District Court to wilfully ill-treating the dog, named Diesel, by strangling him, pouring petrol down his throat and then, while he was still alive, hitting him on the head with a spade.
The attack, which lasted more than half-an-hour, took place while a group of young children were present.
Hurring was convicted by Judge John Macdonald and remanded at large for sentencing on June 23. He faces a maximum penalty of three years in prison or a $50,000 fine, or both.
It was the worst case of ill-treatment of an animal she had seen in her 24 years as an SPCA inspector, Stephanie Saunders, of Dunedin, said.
"It was just horrific. People ask me how I cope with these things. Well, I just focus on getting justice for the dog."
The court heard the incident happened at a house in Stenhope Cres, in the Dunedin suburb of Concord, on February 1.
The SPCA was notified the next day by a teacher and a babysitter dealing with children who were distraught from having witnessed the killing of the dog.
People sitting in the public gallery of the Dunedin courtroom gasped as SPCA counsel Kate Hay began reading out a summary of the facts.
Ms Hay said Hurring was drinking with the dog's owner at her house on February 1.
Six neighbourhood children, aged 10 and 11, and two teenagers were also visiting.
During the afternoon, Diesel bit one of the children present, as he had done several times in recent weeks.
When the dog's owner commented the animal needed to be put down, Hurring said he would do it and the owner agreed.
Hurring took Diesel to a garden shed and the children left the property, but were aware the dog was about to be killed.
Hurring then attempted to strangle the dog using a chain, his bare hands and his foot.
When the dog was still alive after half-an-hour, and had bitten Hurring's hands, he poured petrol down the dog's throat. The dog was finally hit on the head with a spade.
Hurring disputed the fact he hit the dog with the spade and said the owner had hit the dog after Hurring told her it was dead, Ms Hay said.
The dog was buried after the children had returned to the property.
When the SPCA was told about the incident, a search warrant was executed.
A grave marked with a cross and flowers in front of a dog kennel at the rear of the Stenhope Cres property was exhumed and Diesel's body found.
The grave smelled of petrol, a pillowcase had been stuffed in the dog's mouth and the body was wrapped in a blanket.
Blood and bruising were obvious. A postmortem found the dog had a broken jaw, which would have required extreme force to inflict, and a broken neck.
Fresh bruising in the area of the break was consistent with the dog still being alive when it was struck.
"The defendant claims he did not tell anyone how he had killed the dog, yet both the owner and the children are fully aware of what took place," Ms Hay said.
SPCA inquiries found the dog, in preceding weeks, had constantly been teased and harassed by neighbourhood children.
In at least one instance, a vacuum cleaner had been attached to the dog's testicles.
That type of abuse would probably result in its becoming aggressive towards children, Ms Hay concluded.
Hurring said nothing when he appeared in the dock.
Ms Hay said the prosecution sought a sentence of imprisonment, but defence counsel Andrew Dawson suggested the court consider leniency given it was his client's first offence.
