A convicted Australian drug dealer has triggered widespread anger in Bali after footage allegedly showed him beating a puppy to death before later claiming he had eaten the animal.
Robby Wirramanda, whose real name is Robert Knight, picked up the black puppy on West Nusa Tenggara, an island east of Bali, while taking part in celebrations surrounding his recent wedding.
Video obtained by the Daily Mail shows Wirramanda wearing traditional Indonesian clothing as the frightened black puppy is placed in front of him.
The 53-year-old, from Mildura in Victoria, is then seen striking the whimpering puppy repeatedly with a stick.
The footage appears to show Wirramanda killing the dog within a short time, delivering final blows to its head as his new wife, Rensi Ana, encourages him.
In another video, filmed inside Ana’s shop in her Sumbawa home village, Wirramanda spoke about the events in the lead-up to their wedding.
“On the first day, I killed a pig for the wedding,” he said.
“And yeah, I’ve killed a dog, ate the dog as well. I think they were a bit shocked because maybe they don’t think a bule (foreigner) would kill a pig and a dog.”
Video shows Robby Wirramanda Knight collecting a black puppy on West Nusa Tenggara, near Bali, before allegedly beating the animal to death.
Smiling, he leads the dog away before it is tied around its legs with a cord and beaten to death as it whimpers and struggles, unable to escape.
The whimpering dog was dropped amid a group of villagers with Wirramanda waiting with a stick to beat the terrified animal to death
No escape: Wirramanda looms over the animal before coming in for the kill with a stick
‘But I’ve been hunting and killing my own meat since I was young.’
In another video Wirramanda watches a yellow-coloured dog run through Ana’s shop and boasts, ‘might eat that dog later.
‘When this one gets fat, we’re gonna eat this one.
The former prison inmate, who served more than six years’ jail in Australia for drug offences, is a former jiujitsu champion turned Indigenous artist.
Appalled Aussie expats in Bali shared the video of Wirramanda killing the dog – as well as fatally skewering a squealing pig during the same wedding festivities – in local Facebook groups.
One Australian woman posted on I Love Bali Dogs that the video was ‘the most horrible thing I’ve ever seen’ while the Australian and Bali Expat Community page posted ‘who is this fat ugly (Australian… smashing a puppy with a bat to death. He deserves to be named and shamed.’
Angry Australians took to Wirramanda’s Facebook page – one commenting on a photo of him and his new wife captioned ‘soulmates’: ‘Can’t believe you have a soul. Wait to see when God intervenes.’
Wirramanda’s new Indonesian wife posted the videos on her Facebook page after what seems to have been a whirlwind romance culminating in their marriage.
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Robby Wirramanda (left) makes short work on killing the tethered dog, delivering final blows (right) to its head with the encouragement of his new bride, Rensi Ana, but to the horror of Bali expats
The former Victorian prison inmate also skewered a pig, impaling the squealing animal with devastating efficiency in front of locals in Sumbawarra, east of Bali
Wirramanda with his new bride, Rensi Ana, a local shopkeeper who egged her new husband on as he carried out the slaughter of a black puppy and a pig
In further videos on Rensi Ana’s social media pages, Wirramanda muses that he’ll have to build a gym in Sumbawarra, where he and his new wife would build a house.
He said he had been made very welcome by the ‘depth of love and sincerity’ from his new in-laws and claimed that although ‘Australia is a beautiful country don’t get me wrong’ it was going in the wrong direction.
‘It’s lost its uniqueness in a lot of ways, its lost that culture of respect especially that tribal respect in small villages we see people care about one another.
‘We don’t talk sh*t about one another because we’re all close.’
He responded to online criticism – which included that he had a criminal past and that his new wife was ‘marrying her grandfather’ – with a Facebook post.
‘I want to address some of the things being shared about me and Rensi, because there is a lot being said online.
‘Many years ago, I was lost and I got myself into serious trouble. Today, I don’t drink alcohol, I don’t smoke, I don’t use drugs and I’m not interested in partying.
‘Rensi and I went to church together on our very first date.’
Wirramanda defended his slaughter of the animals, saying it was traditional killing and that ‘I have never taken pleasure in hurting or killing an animal for entertainment or fun’
He also issued a statement addressing ‘the discussion about animals and our traditional marriage ceremony’ in Sumba.
‘Animals form part of traditional ceremonies and food here. I respect the culture that has welcomed me and I participated in those traditions,’ he said.
‘I want to make something very clear: I have never taken pleasure in hurting or killing an animal for entertainment or fun.
‘I don’t have a strong emotional reaction to an animal being killed for food, particularly when it is part of a traditional ceremony, but that is completely different from enjoying cruelty to animals.’
Wirramanda made news in 2019 when he posted video online of his neighbours questioning his Aboriginality and attempting to remove an Aboriginal flag from his property.
As then deputy chair of the First Peoples of Millewa-Mallee in Mildura, in northwestern Victoria, he called on Australians to stand up against everyday racism against Indigenous people.
The Daily Mail contacted Wirramanda for comment over killing and eating his dog.