Porirua man charged for thrashing dog who bit his child

A dog.
A Staffordshire bull terrier that is not Patch. Photo credit: Getty

A Porirua man has been charged after he beat a dog with a bat in retaliation for its attack on his daughter.

Sean Landy was sentenced to five months community detention and ordered to pay a $1000 fine to the SPCA as well as a contribution of $150 in legal costs at an appearance in the Porirua District Court on Wednesday. 

Landy attacked Staffordshire bull terrier Patch with a metal baseball bat on November 26, 2017 after the dog bit his six-year-old daughter on the lips.

He hit Patch four times on the head, rupturing the dog's eye. Landy then took his daughter to hospital where she was admitted overnight for surgery on her lips.

Patch's owners took him to the vet where he was euthanised out of fear he could attack somebody else. The vet who treated Patch said he would have suffered a great deal of pain due to the beating.

"Children's interactions with dogs should always be supervised, and children and dogs should never be left unsupervised. It is important that parents and caregivers educate their children about how to behave around dogs," SPCA CEO Andrea Midgen said.

"SPCA sympathises with the victims of dog bites and acknowledges that dog attacks are a major societal problem that require a serious and effective long-term solution. 

"But beating an animal blind in a violent manner is horrific and absolutely not the answer to this issue."

Landy said he was "seeing red" at the time of the beating, wanting the dog to feel the pain his daughter did.

He said he did not mean to kill the dog, but did not want it to be put down "nicely". He regrets his actions.

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