An army veteran who clashed with authorities after he broke into an animal rescue shelter in a bid to free his companion dog has pleaded guilty to assaulting a police officer and choking an RSPCA inspector.
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Shane Van Duren, 42, cut through three wire fences to let his Belgian shepherd out of the RSPCA's Weston headquarters, before he fled with the dog, one night in December 2015.
The dog, named Kalu, was seized and taken to the shelter after a member of the public found it wandering the streets looking thin, documents tendered in the ACT Supreme Court on Friday said.
Van Duren posted on his Facebook page the day after the break-out, saying he hadn't seen the dog since it went missing more than a week earlier.
"Today after a recon [sic] of the RSPCA I found him locked up in the back kennel and sprung him," Van Duren wrote.
"Christmas not the same without a member of our family abducted but it's great that he is back safe and sound."
He then wrote there was "no doubt" the RSPCA would "call the cops and want me charged with trespass when they find him gone in the morning".
Two police and two RSPCA inspectors went to his Deakin home the next day, but Van Duren refused to surrender the animal as he was arrested and yelled: "You're not getting my dog."
When the police officer tried to subdue him, grabbing the offender's arm and attempting to pull him to the ground, Van Duren punched the man twice in the face before he put him in a headlock.
The second police officer handed the nearby RSPCA inspector a can of OC spray, prompting Van Duren to choke the woman with one hand as he tried to get hold of the can.
The officer struck Van Duren's knees repeatedly with a baton until his legs buckled and he yelled at the inspector: "You're f---ing dead bitch, this is only 50 per cent of what I can do."
Officers called for back-up and Van Duren was later charged in the ACT Magistrates Court. The police officer suffered a gash near his ear requiring two stitches, while doctors said the woman sustained a significant injury to her neck.
A previous court hearing was told the dog had been used as a companion animal to help treat Van Duren's post-traumatic stress disorder.
Van Duren pleaded not guilty in the ACT Magistrates Court to choking, making threats to kill, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, resisting arrest, property damage and trespass. He was set to stand trial in the higher court.
But he will no longer face trial after pleading guilty in the ACT Supreme Court on Monday to assault and strangulation.
Offences of property damage and trespass will be taken into account when he is sentenced, while prosecutors dropped the remaining charges.
Chief Justice Helen Murrell ordered a pre-sentence report be prepared before the case returns to court in May.
Van Duren's bail was continued.
