Warning: This article contains details that may disturb some people.
A Lower Hutt man has been prosecuted and sentenced for beating a dog to death after admitting to wrapping her in a towel and hitting her head on the ground.
Simeon Jackson was sentenced to six months of community detention and banned from owning or being in charge of an animal for five years during an appearance in the Hutt Valley District Court on Wednesday.
Jackson attacked miniature poodle Millie on December 2, 2020, while his then-partner, who owned the dog, wasn’t home.
The SPCA said, citing the pathologist, that Jackson likely pinned down or crushed Millie, and caused her skull injuries through “significant blunt force trauma such as shaking or beating”.
When Millie’s owner returned home, her dead body was on a towel in the shower “and there were two puddles of blood on the bathroom floor”.
“Initially, he told inspectors her injuries were accidental, following her head being closed in a door while attempting to contain her in a bathroom,” the SPCA said of Jackson’s offending. “Due to believing she was in pain and not knowing where to find a vet, he said he decided to end Millie’s suffering by wrapping her in a towel and punching her twice in the head.
