A man shot a dog in the head, and its owner’s partner in the arm, with an air pistol after taking exception to the canine barking at him in a supermarket car park.

But despite Danny Patrick Livingstone firing his air pistol multiple times, Brownie and her owner were able to escape without any serious injury.

Livingstone had the pistol stashed down his pants while in the Pak‘nSave Clarence St supermarket earlier this year. He shot the dog as she sat next to a 9-year-old boy in a car.

The 38-year-old appeared in the Hamilton District Court recently for sentencing on charges of cruelty to an animal and assaulting a person using a firearm.

Both charges carry a maximum prison sentence of five years’ jail.

‘Barked in distress’

It was 11.45am on May 4, when Livingstone walked past the victim’s car, parked at Pak‘nSave Clarence St.

Brownie was in the vehicle, sitting next to the window, with the owner’s 9-year-old son, and barked at Livingstone as he walked past.

He then pulled out a blue and clear air pistol from his pants and shot Brownie in the head, causing her to bark in distress.

Livingstone was then confronted by the owner and her partner as to why he’d shot the dogand they had a “heated argument”.

Livingstone got out his air pistol again and shot the partner twice in his right arm.

He then ran off on foot toward Grantham St where he was arrested.

When police searched his backpack, they found the air pistol along with a stash of copper-coated pellets.

Neither the victim nor Brownie suffered any injuries from the shots.

Livingstone declined to comment at the time.

He appeared before Judge Noel Cocurullo for sentencing after earlier accepting a sentence indication.

The judge took a starting point of 10 months’ jail, and added a 5% uplift for his history, then took off 20% for his guilty plea.

That resulted in an end jail term of eight months.

However, the judge noted he would soon be released as he had effectively served his time.

Belinda Feek is an Open Justice reporter based in Waikato. She has worked at NZME for 10 years and has been a journalist for 21.