A mobile petting zoo owner who fatally wounded a dog with a pitchfork and mallet has been sentenced to at least two years in jail for the "brutal and barbaric attack".
On Monday, magistrate David Degnan ordered that Sydney man Daniel Brighton, 33, spend a maximum of 38 months behind bars for his cruel attack on a bull terrier at 3am on January 14, 2016.
Brighton stabbed the dog around six times with a pitchfork after it entered his property at Minto Heights with another dog and injured his camel, Alice. He later hung the injured dog by its leash from a tree and hit it between six and eight times with a mallet.
"It was a particularly brutal and barbaric attack upon not necessarily an innocent animal. But by the time the attacks occurred, there was no need for the offending and he was acting in retribution or vengeance," the magistrate said in Campbelltown Local Court.
He found Brighton guilty of serious acts of cruelty towards an animal with the intention to cause severe pain and with the intention to kill.
At a prior hearing, the court heard from a zoo employee who said the dog was submissive after Brighton captured it. She urged him to contact the police who could find the animal's owner and hold them responsible for the attack on Alice.
After piercing the dog's side with the pitchfork, Brighton went to get medicine to treat his camel. After treating Alice, he moved the dog to find it was still alive, deciding to hang it from the tree and bludgeon it with a mallet.
"I'll make sure it's dead," he said as he swung the mallet like a baseball bat.
Mr Degnan rejected submissions that Brighton had no other way to kill the animal, saying that if he wished to humanely euthanise it, his lengthy background in animal care and welfare gave him the expertise to do so.
"Because of his feelings of anger and retribution, he intentionally wanted to inflict severe pain to the dog," the magistrate said.
Expert veterinary evidence given after an autopsy of the dog found it had most likely died as a result of asphyxiation after being hung from its neck by the leash.
Brighton had also shown no remorse or contrition for the attack, the court found. He appeared to show no emotion as he was led out of the court by police officers.
Speaking after the sentencing, Emma Hurst, MLC for the Animal Justice Party, expressed relief that there was jail time imposed for what she called an absolute act of animal cruelty.
"We need to make sure that acts of cruelty that are this extreme are taken very seriously in the courts and we've seen that happen today," she said.
Ms Hurst said she was mortified that Brighton was still able to acquire multiple new animals even after being charged.
"There are still enormous gaps in our legislation that really require urgent attention," she said.
In June 2019, Brighton was jailed for a maximum term of three years and four months. This was quashed in the Court of Criminal Appeal, which sent the case back for a retrial.
He filed a further appeal of Mr Degnan's guilty verdict in March this year, an appeal which now includes his sentencing. His lawyers will apply to release him from prison while that appeal is on foot.
If Brighton's application to walk free from prison and his appeal both fail, he will be eligible for parole on July 10, 2024.
