Warning: Some details might be distressing.

The owner of a rottweiler dog that killed a one-day-old baby by grabbing it out of its bassinet and burying it in the backyard has been given community work.

Max Aaron Mitchell-Clifford, 23, was ordered to undertake 120 hours of community work, as well as undergo nine months of supervision, when he appeared in the Hamilton District Court on Wednesday.

He had earlier pled guilty to a charge of owning a dog which has caused serious injury.

As the court heard, the newborn’s horrific demise had traumatised Mitchell-Clifford, as well as the youngster’s mother.

“The effects [on her] were devastating, to put it mildly,” remarked Judge David Cameron, shortly before granting both the mother and infant permanent name suppression.

There was no such secrecy permitted for Mitchell-Clifford or the rottweiler, who was named Bear and was destroyed soon after the incident in a Hamilton home on October 25, 2020.

Mitchell-Clifford and the mother of Bear’s victim began a relationship while she was pregnant with the child, who was the son of a former partner who had died.

Two days before the attack Bear, who was prone to wandering, had been picked up by Hamilton City Council dog control officers and Mitchell-Clifford had to pay a fine to get the dog out of the pound.

He was not eager to keep paying for the dog’s misdemeanours and an agreement was reached with the mother, an experienced dog owner, that she would take over ownership of the animal.

Mitchell-Clifford, however, acknowledged he was still the registered owner of Bear when he got him out of the pound.

It was not long after that the woman went into labour and the baby was born at Waikato Hospital with no complications.

The following day, Mitchell-Clifford left the house to attend a friend’s birthday celebration – but left Bear at the mother’s house.

About 7pm the mother, who was still sore from having given birth, placed her son in the bassinet and got up to go to the toilet.

She would have been gone no more than three minutes.

In that time Bear got into the house through the back door, which was open but covered by a fly screen with magnetic clips.

But one of the magnets had got attached to a metal rubbish bin beside the door – leaving a gap through which the dog could enter.

The mother returned to find the bassinet empty.

Outside, at the rear of the property, she found her baby partially buried and covered in blood.

The infant was rushed to hospital but died in the early hours of October 27.

Soon after, Mitchell-Clifford sent an anguished message to a family member:

“This has f...ed me right up. It’s all my fault the baby is going to die.”

-Mike Mather/Stuff.