Man sentenced after beating puppy

Footage showed King was beaten by his owner for nine minutes. Photo / SPCA

A man has been sentenced to community service and disqualified from owning animals for three years after severely beating his puppy, King.

Dimitrie Apanui pleaded guilty in the Whakatane District Court to one charge of ill-treatment of his puppy after beating him intensely in 2018. This morning he was sentenced to 240 hours' community service, disqualified from owning animals for three years, and ordered to pay the SPCA $314.17.

In September 2018 a police officer provided the SPCA with CCTV footage of a puppy being beaten by his owner in a backyard.

The footage showed Apanui beating King intensely for nine minutes, some of the time with small children present.

When Apanui was formally interviewed and shown the footage, he said he believed the dog had nipped one of his children, and said he was only trying to "contain" the dog. He admitted he may have gone overboard in the heat of the moment, but said he had not intended to hurt the dog.

The footage showed him hitting the dog repeatedly with a wooden broom, with such force it broke, crushed the dog against the ground and over the top of a wooden fence, hung him off the ground by a rope around his neck and swung him into a fence.

King could be heard crying and yelping, and was seen cowering in fear and repeatedly trying to escape from the attack.

King was surrendered to SPCA Tauranga Centre and was subsequently rehomed.

"The video footage obtained in this case shows a beating that is horrific in its intensity and duration, and is devastating to watch," said SPCA chief executive Andrea Midgen.

"Violence in communities must never be tolerated. Unfortunately, cases of violence against animals is something our SPCA Inspectors see all too often.

"Thanks to the work of SPCA, King has settled in beautifully with his new family, this cruel period firmly behind him."