Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

Former professional rugby player stabbed dog to death

rsz_img_20190522_095805

A New Zealander who fatally stabbed his neighbour’s dog during an early morning fracas in Perth has been jailed for seven months.

ADVERTISEMENT

Bullet the bull mastiff was stabbed in the head, shoulder and torso during an early morning fracas between Silo Sagote and his neighbours in Redcliffe on January 27 last year.

The dog was treated at a veterinary hospital but went into cardiac arrest the next day and died after 25 minutes of resuscitation efforts.

Perth Magistrates Court heard on Wednesday that Sagote sought to find his housemate’s lost dog Terror by searching with the neighbours’ other dog Chloe, who was on heat.

Continue reading below…

Video Spacer

The neighbours, including a woman who was three months’ pregnant, came to collect Chloe around 1am but were confronted by an irate Sagote, who brandished kitchen knifes, shouted and demanded she leave.

After he pushed the front door hard, making the woman fall, the neighbours unleashed Bullet, wh o ran up to defend her.

“At no time did he growl or bark,” the police prosecutor said.

Sagote’s defence lawyer said his client didn’t recognise the neighbours, who weren’t Bullet’s “direct owner”, but he knew the dog well.

ADVERTISEMENT

“Mr Sagote is a dog lover,” the lawyer said.

“He’s walked Bullet in the past, he’s fed Bullet in the past.”

There was “confusion” at the doorway and Sagote, a former professional rugby union player, was very sad the dog died, the lawyer said.

The prosecutor said Sagote’s home was searched after the incident and there were no signs he had been preparing food, which he initially claimed was the reason he was holding knives.

He later admitted in a police interview that he’d lied.

Magistrate Elizabeth Woods said it was “a bit odd” Sagote took the knives to the front door.

“My difficulty is he knows the dogs,” she said.

ADVERTISEMENT

“It is, in my view, a very violent offence … and an unnecessary attack on the dog,” magistrate Elizabeth Woods said.

“He could have shut the door.”

Sagote, who smoked cannabis that night, was due to stand trial on one of his two charges on Wednesday but changed his plea to guilty after receiving legal advice.

His sentence was backdated to take into account six weeks he spent in custody for breaching bail and he will be eligible for parole.

AAP

ADVERTISEMENT

LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

N
Nickers 22 minutes ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

I thought we made a lot of progress against that type of defence by the WC last year. Lots of direct running and punching holes rather than using width. Against that type of defence I think you have to be looking to kick on first phase when you have front foot ball which we did relatively successfully. We are playing a lot of rugby behind the gain line at the moment. They are looking for those little interchanges for soft shoulders and fast ball or off loads but it regularly turns into them battering away with slow ball and going backwards, then putting in a very rushed kick under huge pressure.


JB brought that dimension when he first moved into 12 a couple of years ago but he's definitely not been at his best this year. I don't know if it is because he is being asked to play a narrow role, or carrying a niggle or two, but he does not look confident to me. He had that clean break on the weekend and stood there like he was a prop who found himself in open space and didn't know what to do with the ball. He is still a good first phase ball carrier though, they use him a lot off the line out to set up fast clean ball, but I don't think anyone is particularly clear on what they are supposed to do at that point. He was used really successfully as a second playmaker last year but I don't think he's been at that role once this year. He is a triple threat player but playing a very 1 dimensional role at the moment. He and Reiko have been absolutely rock solid on defence which is why I don't think there will be too much experimentation or changes there.

41 Go to comments
TRENDING
TRENDING Borthwick, it's time to own up – Andy Goode Borthwick, it's time to own up – Andy Goode
Search