Man fed kittens to pitbull and filmed it, court told

Te Ahu Aaron Mankelow may be sentenced to prison for feeding live kittens to his dog. Photo / Martin Sykes

A man fed five live kittens to his pitbull dog when he went to a party in Gisborne last year.

It was a story that attracted a full turnout of national media when he appeared at Gisborne District Court this morning.

Te Ahu Aaron Mankelow, 31, pleaded guilty to five charges of wilful cruelty to animals after he recorded himself on a cellphone tipping out five kittens from a box for his dog, and urging his dog to eat them.

It arose from an incident at a party at a house in Childers Road last September, prosecutor Vicki Thorpe told the court.

Mankelow was on his way into the property with his 18-month old pitbull dog Pepe.

Something in a parked truck attracted the dog's attention. When Mankelow looked inside, he saw five kittens, their eyes not yet open, in a cardboard box.

He took the box from the truck to a reserve alongside the property.

He tipped the kittens out of the box for his dog, which attacked them one by one, urged on by Mankelow, who recorded the whole attack on his cellphone.

All of the kittens were killed.

Someone called an SPCA officer who identified the remains of five kittens, with broken bones. At least one kitten had been disembowelled.

The officer estimated they were aged between six and 10 weeks.

Mankelow initially denied his actions, but then admitted it after being shown the video.

The charges of wilful cruelty were brought by the SPCA and Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.

Mankelow was remanded at large on bail. Judge Robert Spear imposed a condition that he reside at an Elgin address and have no association with any animal until February 19, when he will appear again for sentencing.

Calling for a pre-sentence report, Judge Spear warned Mankelow that although community or home detention was a possibility, he could not rule out prison. This depended on the judge on the day.

As Mankelow left the court, a man in the public gallery was heard to call him a "scumbag".

On the media benches were reporters from most of the country's mainstream television channels, including TV1`s Sunday documentary programme.

Outside, a line-up of cameras and a barrage of questions waited for Mankelow as he left the court.

Copies of Mankelow's telephone video of the incident have already been shown by the SPCA to some media.

Accompanied by two security guards, he scurried around the back to a waiting vehicle, a hooded sweatshirt over his head.

His relatives hurled abuse and obscene gestures at reporters as they sought to question them. One member of the family told The Gisborne Herald the incident had been over-publicised.

- NZPA