Man fed kittens to pitbull and filmed it (graphic content)

A man has been jailed for tearing the head off a kitten in front of his family - one of two kitten cruelty cases before the courts today.

The cases were described as "chilling" by SPCA national chief executive Robyn Kippenberger.

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

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 comes as a man has been jailed for tearing the head off a kitten in front of his family.

In Pukekohe District Court today Judge Sharon McAuslan sentenced David Hamuera Snook to prison for two years and four months and banned him from owning or exercising animals for five years. The court earlier heard that Snook took the family kitten in his arms, and, while laughing, twisted its head off.

Ms Kippenberger said it was known that those types of violence did co-occur and in some cases violence toward animals would come before violence toward people.

"But we do know that they sit very close together and so it's always chilling to us when we hear of cases like this or of cases like the kittens in Gisborne."

Today's multiple kitten killing case attracted a full turnout of national media when Mankelow appeared this morning in Gisborne District Court.

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".

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.

Meanwhile the New Zealand Herald website today reported Snook had gone to his former partner's house in November when he killed the family pet. He was drunk, and an argument took place.

Sitting at the dining table, Snook took the family kitten in his arms, and, while laughing, twisted its head off.

According to the police summary of facts Snook's former partner and her children watched Snook kill the kitten and its headless body run across the floor.

Snook later told police that the kitten had been run over, however, Judge McAuslan said that was a lie and she described the killing as "callous, brutal and cruel".

"The kitten had one life and you took it," she told Snook.

Snook's lawyer, James Parlane, said his client had problems with alcohol but had shown he was intelligent by completing a Bachelor of Arts.

He acknowledged Snook's previous violent convictions and said he had "slipped through the gaps."

Mr Parlane said the kitten did not suffer and he likened the killing to someone running over a cat but Judge McAuslan said that was not the case.

"That is an accident – this is a deliberate evident," she said.

Police prosecutor Geoffrey Bardsley said the killing was a breach of trust and it was made worse by the fact that the kitten was killed in front of the family.

Snook's sentencing included the charges relating to the killing of the kitten as well as historic domestic violence charges after breaking a supervision order.

- NZPA