A BENDIGO man has offered to dig up the remains of his three dead dogs to prove he put them down.
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Kyal Stephen Bennett, 24, appeared in the Bendigo Magistrates Court yesterday morning and pleaded guilty to failing to register his dogs, having a dog at large and a dog attack causing serious injury.
The court heard Bennett’s three dogs – two Bull Arabs and a Staghound – attacked two small dogs on January 11.
Two of Bennett’s dogs attacked one of the small dogs, leaving multiple holes in its chest. Later on the same day one of Bennett’s dogs wandered onto a private property and started circling a car in which a woman, her children and their Jack Russell were sitting.
The woman opened the door and Bennett’s dog snatched the smaller dog below the neck and started vigorously “shaking it like a rabbit”, the court heard.
In sentencing, Magistrate Bruce Cottrill said Bennett had demonstrated a “significant lack of responsibility” in regards to the control and management of his animals.
“Dog attacks on animals and humans can have disastrous consequences...it’s therefore important to send a message to the community at large,” he said.
Bennett told the court he was going through a rough patch and was in debt.
He said he had been working as a station overseer in South Australia but at the time of the dog attacks he’d been visiting his then partner who was pregnant.
Bennett told the court all three dogs had been put down and when asked if he had any evidence to support the claim he told the court he could “dig them up”.
Magistrate Cottrill convicted and fined Bennett $2500 and ordered the destruction of his three dogs.