Australian gets five months in prison for brutal murder of kangaroo

A 28-year-old Australian man flies to prison for five months for the torture and murder of a kangaroo. The violent attack was filmed with a smartphone.

Ricky Ian Swan was charged with three other men in September because they had tortured and murdered two kangaroos. Swan chased one of the kangaroos and gave him more than 20 stab wounds. He also stamped the dying animal against the head.

The other kangaroo was burned by the other men, shot through the eye, spit on and beaten with a boxing brace. Agents found the gruesome images on Swan’s cell phone when they arrested him for another matter. The images, however, are so horrible that the police refuse to release them. “One of the worst cases of animal abuse we have ever seen,” said sergeant Paul Giuffre about the matter.

Torture

“You subjected this animal to a violent and brutal attack,” Judge Deen Potter said according to Australian broadcaster ABC against Swan. He pointed out to him that he had been guilty of animal abuse, including torture, mutilation and deliberate malicious behaviour.

“I do not know what I owned,” said Swan. “It’s disgusting. I am not the person in the video.” He was sentenced to a twelve-month prison sentence, of which seven months were conditional. In the past, Swan argued twice for animal cruelty.

Monstrous

Earlier this week, one of his co-defendants, a 26-year-old man from Perth, got two years in prison for a series of animal abuse cases, which the court described as “monstrous”. For example, he would have set a chicken on fire and then exploded with an explosive.

In Australia there are almost twice as many kangaroos as people. According to government statistics, the country has almost 45 million kangaroos against 25 million Australians.