Sentence for dog ruse earns SPCA applause

The SPCA has welcomed the sentence imposed on a Nelson man convicted over having a dog killed to save another.

Kevin Riley Plant had obtained a dog by deception then had it put down, in order to save a pig dog that had bitten a policeman.

Plant, 25, appeared in the Nelson District Court having previously admitted charges of allowing a dog attack, obtaining by deception and fabricating evidence.

He was sentenced to 250 hours community service on the deception and fabricating evidence charges, and fined $500 on the dog attack charge.

Nelson SPCA general manager Phil Soper yesterday described the sentence as reasonable.

"It's good to see the courts are increasing the penalties for these types of offences, but I think there should be a stand down period before they can own another dog."

Defence lawyer Tony Bamford told the court that a policeman was attacked by a dog Plant had borrowed to try out as a pig dog.

Police told Plant the dog had to be destroyed, but the animal had already been returned to its owner, who "rebuffed him in rather clear terms", Mr Bamford said.

Judge David McKegg said Plant then obtained a labrador from a young man who could no longer look after it, and had it put down.

"He thought it was going to a good family because you had your wife and children there when you got it, and he thought it was in safe hands, but he was misled."

Plant told authorities the labrador was the dog that had bitten the policeman, and that there was no need to get an order for its destruction, Judge McKegg said.

"It was a type of ruse, a plan to kill one dog to save another." The deception was "really nasty", he said.

"The reason it was so nasty is that quite obviously, people put a lot of their own emotional being into their animals, and even if they have to get rid of them, it's still a slice of them they are parting with," said the judge.

- NZPA