Warning: Disturbing content
A pet cat was killed in front of two traumatised children by an enraged kumara picker during an argument over money.
Taina Mai Edwards, from Te Kopuru, threw the cat on a concrete driveway twice with all his strength and after it was dead, he again picked up the animal and threw it out a back door of the house he was living in.
The 25-year-old earlier pleaded guilty to one charge of ill treating an animal and another of wilful damage.
He was sentenced by the Whangarei District Court this week to eight months in jail.
Judge Greg Davis said Edwards temporarily moved into a house in Te Kopuru and on the afternoon of February 23, an argument developed after he alleged the female house owner owed him $200.
Both moved from the lounge area on to a concrete deck where he ripped a greenstone necklace from her neck. Edwards then smashed the necklace on the driveway.
Her two children, aged 4 and 5 years old, were present.
Edwards then walked towards the woman's pet cat, grabbed it with one hand, stretched his arm above his head and threw the animal with all his strength on to the concrete driveway.
While the cat was still twitching and displaying evidence of life, he again picked it up and threw it with all his strength on to the driveway and killed it.
Edwards then ran to another house and called police before running back to where he temporarily lived.
He uplifted the dead animal, ran back to the house and threw it out the back door.
When spoken to by police, Edwards said the woman owed him $200 and that now things were ''squared''.
He said he regretted killing the cat in front of the children.
His lawyer, Dave Sayes, urged the judge to give Edwards a small discount for his remorse and to grant leave for him to apply for home detention.
Judge Davis said Edwards perpetrated two acts of violence.
One was him killing the cat and the other the emotional harm to the children who witnessed the ill treatment of their family pet.
He sentenced Edwards to eight months in jail and ordered that he pay $200 reparation for the greenstone necklace. Leave was granted for him to apply for home detention.