A man killed a neighbour’s dog in the darkness with an axe, a court was told.
Huddersfield joiner Kevin Dixon insisted the dog had not suffered.
“It was over and done with from first to last blow in 10 seconds”, he said
Dixon, 35, of Castle Avenue, Newsome, pleaded not guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to an Akita-type dog called Tempa when he appeared before Kirklees magistrates.
Philip Brown, prosecuting on behalf of the RSPCA, said the offence was carried out on the night of Friday, May 16, 2014, in an area close to Newsome Road South.
He said the dog belonged to Amanda Hamer, a grandmother, but when she suffered a severe whiplash injury in the early part of 2014 the defendant agreed to walk it twice a day for her.
On May 16 Miss Hamer decided to have a “social gathering” at her home on Castle Avenue and among those invited was Dixon.
Mr Brown said the dog, which had bitten several people previously, including Newsome youngster Leo McInerny, again bit a woman at the party requiring her to receive treatment for a facial wound.
The RSPCA was contacted and their advice was to take it to a vet on the following Monday morning.
Mr Brown said: “The defendant was still at the property when the incident took place. It was 10.30pm to 11.30pm and he said he would take it for a walk. He gave no indication of his motives.
“Approximately an hour later the defendant returned to the property. Tempa was not with him.”
Miss Hamer asked where he was and Mr Brown said he replied: “‘I have done what needed to be done”.
“He mentioned an axe and said: ‘It felt good, it was not easy, it struggled’. She was shocked and moved away from him.”
When the police contacted him regarding the theft of the dog he panicked and said he had given it to a passer-by.
However, when he was arrested on May 19, he admitted killing Tempa and took officers to where he had buried the dog.
Giving evidence, Dixon said that initially he had not been fond of the dog but when it was out it was fine.
He said he was concerned about the number of times the dog had bitten people including children and told Miss Hamer: “I am not leaving this dog in the house with these children upstairs.”
He said he tied it to a tree and hit it with an axe seven times.
He said: “I didn’t want it to suffer. It was over and done with from first to last blow in 10 seconds.”
But two expert witnesses for the prosecution and one for the defence disagreed over precisely how quickly the pet would have died though all agreed it would not have taken long.
The case has been adjourned until March 16.
