Gold Coast court to be asked to order dog be disposed as owner sentenced over animal cruelty

A GOLD Coast court is today expected to be asked to order a dog be disposed as its owner is sentenced for animal cruelty.

A GOLD Coast kitchen hand will be sentenced this afternoon after pleading guilty to throwing and punching his two-year-old puppy during a drinking session at a Broadbeach park earlier this year.

Blair Vercoe, 31, appeared in the Southport Magistrates Court last month charged with animal cruelty of his dog, an American staffy named Viking, after a violent incident in the park adjacent to the Kurrawa Surf Club at Broadbeach on February 22.

Blair Vercoe leaves Southport Magistrates Court at an earlier court appearance.

Court documents show police were called to the park about 12.30pm after reports Vercoe and another man were drinking in the area and causing a disturbance.

When police arrived they saw Vercoe pick the dog up by the collar from under a table and throw it from waist height on to the ground.

Gold Coast kitchen hand Blair Vercoe has pleaded guilty to throwing and punching his two-year-old puppy during a drinking session at a Broadbeach park on February 22.

After the initial incident, which was captured on CCTV, police said the dog cowered under the table before Vercoe pulled it toward himself again by the collar.

Police are expected to ask the court for the dog to be ‘disposed’, in this afternoon’s hearing, meaning it will be free to be rehomed.

Vercoe’s lawyer Danielle Heable, of Hannay Lawyers, said she will fight the application to give up the dog in court this afternoon.

Police are also expected to ask the court to issue an order banning Vercoe from ever owning a dog again.

Gold Coast kitchen hand Blair Vercoe has pleaded guilty to throwing and punching his two-year-old puppy during a drinking session at a Broadbeach park on February 22.