Boronia dog attack: Darren McKinley attacked housemate to stop victim reporting dog attack
A pet owner was so angry his dog could be put down after it bit his former housemate that he went and attacked the man himself to stop him pressing charges.
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A man bashed and threatened to kill his former housemate to try to stop him pressing charges after the victim was attacked by the man’s dog.
The County Court heard Boronia’s Darren McKinley turned up at the victim’s house, kicked the door, before using a piece of timber to smash a widow and climb into the house.
Screaming “I’m going to kill ya”, McKinley then ran towards the man and punched and grabbed his neck, about 2.20pm on Tuesday, August 14, 2018.
The court heard McKinley left when the victim told him the police were on their way.
When McKinley was arrested about half an hour and later interviewed at Boronia police station, he denied attacking the victim, but did say he wished he had killed the man.
The court heard he told police he had gone to the house to tell his former housemate not to press charges against his dog, ‘Snoop’, which had bitten the victim several times when they lived together in February 2018.
At the time, the victim reported the incident to authorities before Knox Council seized the dog.
The victim also moved out of the house and had a Personal Safety Intervention Order issued against McKinley.
In August, when McKinley attacked the victim he was in the midst of fighting the council’s push to destroy his dog, who was in their custody.
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The court heard he was angry because he believed his dog had bitten the victim in response to the victim teasing and abusing the animal, which he said the victim had not told authorities.
McKinley was remanded from the day of the incident until December 2018, when he began a seven-month bail program, which he successfully completed.
His 10-year-old dog was destroyed while he was in custody.
At his sentencing on December 3, 2019, Judge Mark Gamble noted the dog had provided “the only real emotional connection” in McKinley’s life since his relationship broke down years earlier.
He said McKinley, who had pleaded guilty to aggravated burglary, common assault and contravening an intervention order, had not returned to using methamphetamine or reoffended since his release.
Judge Gamble sentenced McKinley to 113 days jail — which were already served when he was on remand — and handed him a conviction and a two-year community correction order, including 200 hours of unpaid community work.