Erik Paul Ball sentenced in Townsville District Court for brutally killing his mother’s Chihuahua, Pepe

Park goers watched in horror as a man drowned his mother’s chihuahua, Pepe, and continued to violently abuse his body. Warning: distressing

Erik Paul Ball brutally killed his mother's chihuahua, Pepe, at Aplins Weir

A man whispered words to Satan as he held his mothers dog underwater and drowned it at a popular picnic spot.

Erik Paul Ball made the sign of the cross multiple times as he sat in the Townsville District Court dock while being sentenced for the brutal killing of his family chihuahua, Pepe.

Crown prosecutor Grace Ollason told the court that in the early hours of January 20 last year, Ball took Pepe from his mother’s home – where he had been living – and rode his bike to Aplins Weir.

There, he carried the dog to the water’s edge and threw him in.

“Pepe struggled across the current to swim back to (Ball) and when he did he made it out of the water where Ball remained,” she said.

Ball then picked up the dog, forced him underwater, and held him there for up to five minutes, ultimately drowning him.

Witnesses nearby were horrified, hearing Ball muttering references to Lucifer and Satan as he carried out the act, the court was told.

“It would seem to be the case that Pepe was not at that point alive; however that didn’t dissuade Ball from continuing in his efforts to bring about Pepe’s death,” Ms Ollason said.

Onlookers then saw Ball remove the lifeless dog from the water, place him on the ground, and strike him with a rock three to four times before throwing him back into the river.

Pepe did not resurface.

Witnesses heard Ball speaking to Satan and Lucifier as he drowned Pepe Photo: David Ryan

The court heard that Ball had been diagnosed with schizophrenia during a 12-year prison sentence in the 1990s, imposed after he broke into the home of two elderly women and attempted to rape one of them.

When he completed that sentence, he had periods of stability while compliant with his medication, but relapsed into criminal behaviour when he stopped treatment and used illicit drugs, including methamphetamines.

Ms Ollason said Ball was not taking his prescribed medication and was using meth at the time of Pepe’s death.

Defence barrister Tom Hancock, instructed by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Service, said Ball was in the midst of a “schizophrenic event” during the heinous killing and couldn’t tell right from wrong.

“He has very little recollection of what was actually involved,” he said.

Judge John Coker described the offence as “abhorrent” and “horrendous.”

“The pain and suffering that the animal must have occasioned as a result of your actions is something that is hard to comprehend,” he said.

“You were clearly in a distressed state perhaps as a result of both the underlying schizophrenia and the use of methamphetamines along with the fact that you were clearly not using your medication.”

Ball pleaded guilty to one charge of serious animal cruelty.

He was sentenced to 18 months jail with an immediate parole release date.

Originally published as Erik Paul Ball sentenced in Townsville District Court for brutally killing his mother’s Chihuahua, Pepe