A police officer has told a court of the revolting smell in a house where he found a dead dog in a pool of blood on the kitchen counter.
Acting Sergeant Simon Miller told the ACT Magistrates Court yesterday that faeces were strewn over the floor of the Nicholls home and the Rottweiler was lying on the bench under some clothing.
Dusko Culibrk, 26, is accused of torturing the dog to death in May last year and abusing two other dogs who were found at the home he shared with his parents.
He has pleaded not guilty to animal cruelty charges and represented himself after his lawyer withdrew from the case yesterday.
The court has heard he has mental health issues.
Acting Sergeant Miller said he was called to the house at about 1am on May 11, 2010, after a report of a dog being killed. He said he found Culibrk's father asleep in a van outside and the man told him he was there because he was afraid of his son.
The officer said he and his partner entered the backyard and found a male Rottweiler covered in faeces and tied up. A third dog was running free but was also dirty.
Inside the house, he said, the floor was covered with dog faeces and a dead female Rottweiler lay on the kitchen counter in a puddle of blood, covered by a tracksuit top and some shorts.
The dog's muzzle was bleeding and had scars and ligature marks as though it had been tied shut.
Culibrk was arrested several hours later and the animals were removed by rangers.
The man's parents maintained they were the dogs' owners and had repeatedly approached the RSPCA to reclaim the two living dogs. Asked by Magistrate Grant Lalor why police believed Culibrk was responsible for the dogs, Acting Sergeant Miller said the man's sister had called triple-0 and said her brother killed the dog.
But Culibrk told the court his sister had been overseas and could not have made the call.
The case continues today.
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