New twist in Wellsford dog massacre

Photos: Lawrence Smith

Rowan Hargreaves, above, the owner of the shot dogs, says Russell Mendoza, below, was loading the guns even if he was not pulling the trigger.

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The Wellsford dog massacre took another strange twist yesterday when Russell Mendoza, one of the two men involved in the slaying of more than 30 dogs on a rural property west of Wellsford, yesterday distanced himself from the event, saying in a statement issued by his lawyer that he shot only one dog.

The statement said Mendoza was handed a gun by Richard Hawkings, an associate of dog owner Rowan Hargreaves.

"He used this to shoot a dog at point-blank range under the supervision of the [firearms] licence holder. The dog died instantly," the statement said. The licence holder referred to is truck driver Tony "Tussock" Campbell, who could not be reached for comment yesterday. Police searched his property on Friday afternoon and took away several firearms. They have not laid any charges, but have not ruled out the possibility.

Hawkings confirmed Mendoza shot only one dog, after he handed him a .22 rifle belonging to a farmer in the area. He said Mendoza stopped after the gun jammed. "That was the end of his shooting spree."

Hawkings and Hargreaves say Campbell shot the rest of the dogs, 10 of them adults and the rest puppies, some as young as three days old, using two or three weapons, including a 12-gauge shotgun. Mendoza helped to reload, they said. "He [Mendoza] might not have been shooting, but he was loading the guns and passing them to the shooter," Hargreaves said.

Just how the dogs came to be shot has been in dispute since news of the killings broke last week.

Mendoza said in his statement Hargreaves had acknowledged that his dogs were responsible for mauling Mendoza's fox terrier, and had requested verbally and in writing that the dogs be destroyed.

Hargreaves said he had shot two of his dogs the day before, one that had got into a neighbour's chicken coop and the other that matched the description of a dog seen after the fox terrier mauling. He had offered to let Mendoza kill others. "I made an offer, in return you expect humanity," Hargreaves said.

Maree Davidson, who lives with Campbell, said the two shooters and their families had been abused. When she left Mendoza's property on Thursday she found someone had wiped a soiled nappy all over her car. "I can't even go into town to get food," she said.

A woman who was looking after the garden centre in Wellsford owned by Mendoza and his wife Dale said they had received death threats. "People have rung here saying `we're gonna pump you full of bullets'. The police have taken a report. They are being beaten up by the public, it's vicious, disgusting stuff."

Mendoza's lawyer, Joe Koppens, said Mendoza had been subjected to "misinformed publicity" and "unfair attention from members of the public". He and his wife have spent the past two days barricaded inside their property.

Of the eight puppies which survived, some by cowering under another dead dog, two died overnight on Friday because they were too young survive without their mother.

Charges were likely to be laid against the shooters. Yesterday, SPCA chief executive Bob Kerridge assured the public it was working hard to build a case which would stick. He understood public frustration that charges had not yet been laid, but said evidence, including necropsy reports, needed to be gathered carefully to make sure a prosecution was successful.

"It's not a case of over-complicating things, it's a case of getting it right."

- © Fairfax NZ News