A Tauranga man who repeatedly struck his dog with a shovel has been sentenced to four months in prison following a violent incident in September 2024.
According to a report by 1News, the man pleaded guilty to charges after a witness reported hearing a dog yelping at his address. When the witness went to investigate, they saw the man hitting his dog, Marama, on her body and head with a “large” shovel before throwing it at her, striking her head.
“Marama tried retreating while yelping and whimpering, before running into a corner of the yard,” the SPCA said, 1News has quoted.
When confronted, the man claimed he was beating the dog because she had toileted on his deck. Police and SPCA investigators were called to the scene, but the man refused to cooperate and declined to answer questions, attempting to downplay the severity of the assault.
He instead threw a small plastic dustpan and brush onto the ground, claiming those were the items he had used to hit Marama.
The dog was removed from the property and taken to a veterinarian for examination.
“Upon examination, Marama avoided placing full weight on her right hind limb and flinched repeatedly when gently patted across her left shoulder, back, and hip area,” the SPCA said, as quoted by 1News.
“There was an area of alopecia with red/purple colouring on her right flank, and almost the entire area of the back and inside of her thigh and hock, both areas were painful when touched and were consistent with bruising and trauma, as reported by 1News.
“Her left ear was thickened, and there were a couple of small red, raised lesions on the inside, and there were areas of pain in both her right forelimb and hind limb,” 1News has reported.
The veterinarian concluded Marama had suffered soft-tissue injuries consistent with the witness’s account of the incident. The SPCA said the beating would have been “immensely distressing” for the dog and left her in a state of shock due to the physical and emotional abuse.
At the Tauranga District Court, the man was sentenced to four months’ imprisonment, disqualified from owning companion animals for five years, and ordered to pay $198.50 in reparations along with $250 in legal costs. The sentence will be served concurrently with a jail term for an unrelated police matter, as reported by 1News.
Marama was cared for by the SPCA and later rehomed after her recovery.
SPCA chief executive Todd Westwood described the attack as “horrifying”.
“It’s heartbreaking to think of Marama going through such a cruel attack by a person who was meant to care for her well-being," 1News has reported.
“Animals that endure treatment such as this have an ongoing battle learning to trust people due to the actions of one individual. This attack was both cruel and unnecessary, and I’m grateful that our Inspectors and police stepped in when they did,” as quoted by 1News.
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