Confronting video footage of five dogs tearing a cat to shreds taken by a man who pleaded guilty to animal cruelty charges was shown to a court on Thursday.
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"F--- you bush cat ... dirty cat," a voice alleged to be that of the accused, Dederang man Ashley O'Keefe, is heard to say after one of his dogs picked up the feline carcass and dumped it on a track. "Good girl," he says to his dog.
Mr O'Keefe, 40, was facing Wodonga Magistrates Court on April 4 after pleading guilty to seven charges relating to animal cruelty and wildlife offences.
The court viewed several videos of footage showing his dogs mauling a cat, a common wombat, a deer, an eastern grey kangaroo, and another mutilated kangaroo in the back tray of a ute with his daughter dancing to music in the front seat of the vehicle.
Mr O'Keefe, a dairy farmer, initially faced 25 charges and pleaded guilty to seven, with the remaining charges withdrawn.
He was charged with aggravated cruelty against animals, allowing dogs to fight with animals and the possession of protected wildlife
Prosecutor Danielle Chiaverini said the Department of Energy Environment and Climate Action received a report from the RSPCA on March 28, 2023.
She said the report related to "ongoing offences against protected wildlife committed by the accused".
"The report was accompanied by video files and photographs from May to August 2019, which raised serious concern for the wellbeing of animals and that the accused was responsible for instances of cruelty," Ms Chiaverini said.
"It was ascertained that the accused held no current or previous authorities to control wildlife under the Wildlife Act and there was no such authority attached to his residence (at his Dederang property).
Ms Chiaverini said when officers from DEECA and the Game Management Authority entered Mr O'Keefe's property they found five large dogs belonging to the accused and the remains of a kangaroo leg found near the accused's house.
"The accused stated he took the deceased kangaroo from the Kiewa Valley Highway sometime in April of 2023," Ms Chiaverini told the court.
Ms Chiaverini then tendered footage extracted from Mr O'Keefe's seized mobile phone alleged to have been taken by the accused.
"The videos and photographs ... (were) of offences he committed against animals, mostly protected wildlife, on and around the Dederang property ... these videos and photographs relate to six separate incidents," she said referring to video clips, some of which were shown to the court.
Ms Chiaverini said officers also found Seagate portable hard drives, an Argus scabbard knife set, three boning knives, and two F Dick sharpening steels.
Mr O'Keefe's defence solicitor Hazel Whalley said his client had no previous convictions and had entered an early guilty plea.
She said since media coverage of his January appearance in court, Mr O'Keefe had been the victim of two flat tyres and had his windscreen smashed.
Ms Whalley said her client had shown remorse. She later questioned why video footage, which she described as "distressing", should be released to the public.
Magistrate Ian Watkins described the footage the court had seen as confronting.
"Why shouldn't the community be aware of what I've seen in court?" Mr Watkins said. "I accept that it would lead to further public humiliation of your client but ... it's an open court."
Mr Watkins adjourned the matter to May 1 for sentence.
