A Queensland man who violently killed a dog last year will be examined by a forensic psychiatrist prior to being sentenced for the worst category of animal cruelty offences.
Preston Arapere Barton-Cootes, 23, on Friday pleaded guilty to two counts of serious animal cruelty and three counts of wilful damage, including of police property, in the Brisbane District Court.
In October 2014, police found the blood of two small dogs throughout a house at Kallangur in Brisbane's north.
One had been bashed to death and the other had been injured after being stuffed in a plastic bag and swung around.
Jennifer O'Brien, for the Crown, told the court a psychologist's report tendered by the defence team found "underlying patterns" made it difficult to predict whether Barton-Cootes would offend in the future.
A "thorough neuropsychological investigation" could shed more light on the problems of the defendant, according to the report.
Barton-Cootes' defence lawyer, Rob Glenday, objected to further testing but Judge Anthony Rafter said the existing report did not reflect a true and accurate picture of the circumstances.
"This is as bad a case as you could imagine," he said.
"He violently killed one domestic pet and also injured another pet - that's not even mentioning the destruction of property.
"A person who would do all of that has real problems."
Judge Rafter said further testing had merit both for the sake of the community and for the benefit of the defendant, who was on probation at the time of the incident and also has a history of assaults on people, including police officers.
The maximum penalty for the serious animal cruelty offence, which was only created in August 2014, is seven years behind bars.
The matter will return to court on October 29.
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