Posted: 15:37, August 6, 2022 | Updated: 15:37, August 6, 2022
The devastated family of a man mauled to death by six dogs have revealed his partner listened on the phone as he was ‘torn apart’ during a call he made to her.
The body of 69-year-old Neville Thompson was found at his home in the remote town of Panguru on New Zealand’s North Island on Thursday along with 25 unregistered dogs.
Mr Thompson’s stepdaughter Stella Matthews said her mother, Mr Thompson’s partner, was on the phone with the “grand” old man when he was killed.
Neville Thompson (above) was found dead at his remote New Zealand home after a “friend” took advantage of his kindness and abandoned 19 aggressive dogs on his property.
“Apparently he had gone outside and put the phone down and my mum heard fighting and shouting and grunting,” she told the Sun.
“He was on the phone for 25, 30 minutes.”
Police said six of the 25 unregistered dogs at the property were involved in the vicious attack on Mr Thompson and did not belong to him.
Of these six, two were arrested by the police, one was shot and killed, one escaped and returned the next morning, and two remain at large.
Mr Thomson’s family revealed on Friday that the dogs that attacked him were not his, but were dumped on the elder by an alleged friend who took advantage of his kindness.
Mr Thomson’s son Te Ahu Thomson said the elderly man offered to help a friend who needed a place to live.
Police have seized 25 dogs from the home, some of which are understood to be feral dogs from local packs, and said the main breeds are a neo mastiff and a bulldog cross (pictured, a stock image of a dog that was not from the property of Mr. Thomson)
Instead, the friend left Mr Thomson with a pack of 19 aggressive dogs which endangered the lives of Mr Thomson’s own dogs, which he kept inside his home for fear they would attack them.
Te Ahu Thomson also confirmed that the generous man’s own two dogs were not involved in the attack that claimed the old man’s life.
Mr Thomson’s daughter Nataria Moore said her father was in the process of removing the dogs from his property when he was brutally killed.
“He was actually trying to get (the friend) out because he didn’t want those dogs around him,” she told One News.
Moore said her father’s death was incredibly difficult for her family and that it hurts that his death was caused by someone who took advantage of his “big heart.”
“We’re just surviving. It’s a shock. When I found out, I felt like the air was taken out of the room,” he said.
Ms Matthews said the 19 dogs were “abandoned” by their previous owner and left for Mr Thompson to handle.
“It wasn’t his dogs. I don’t know how you expect a 69-year-old man who was barely in good health to willingly take care of 25 dogs,” he said.
It is understood that some dogs from a local pack not in Mr Thomson’s care may also have been involved in the attack.
Far North District Council’s general manager of services, Dr Dean Myburgh, said 25 dogs had been removed from the property with the main breeds being neomastiff and bulldog cross.
He said the dogs were in “very good condition” and said police were investigating why so many animals were at the property.
Mr Thomson’s family have set up a Give a Little fundraising page to help his grieving family meet funeral costs.
