It's a bittersweet Easter for chocolate lovers and Afri ...
Top 1
49 hours of community service and a fine of 82.15 Australian dollars only?
A man from Tasmania, Australia, picked up a rod and killed several small blue penguins, after being drunk on the New Year's Day two years ago, igniting rages in the society.
What's more irritating is that the animal killer shows no remorse in the count handling his case.
The court sentenced him to 49 hours of community service and a fine of 82.15 Australian dollars, which many animal protection organizations criticised that the penalties were excessively light and not deterrent.
According to local reports, 20-year-old Joshua Jeffrey picked up a club and attacked several blue penguins after drinking with two friends on the beach.
Nine penguin corpses were found on the scene later, and the corporeal examination, six of them were head fractured and died of blunt trauma while other three causes of death are still unclear.
In the verdict of April 24 this year, Jeffrey has been convicted of aggravating the death of animal abuse and the crime of buying, selling or possessing conservation wild animals without official permission.
Judge Tamara Jago said in court that the 20-year-old Jeffrey had no remorse for his cruel behavior towards the fragile lives, but Jeffrey's lawyers defended before the verdict, saying defected used to be suffering mental health problems, disorders of sensory processing, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHA) and intellectual development disorders.
In the end, the judge considered the psychological condition described by the lawyer and eventually sentenced Jeffrey community service to 49 hours and a fine of 82.15 Australian dollars.
A public opinion controversy was triggered after the verdict came out.
Executive Director of the Birdlife Tasmania, Eric Woehler, criticized that, the sentence could not stop the intended person from doing the same thing in the future and it has completely degraded the value of Tasmania’s precious wild animals and set precedents for future attacks on wildlife.
Tasmania is extremely strict in terms of animal protection. If one is convicted of abusing animals to deaths, he/she can be sentenced to a maximum of 5 years in prison or a fine of at least 31,000 Australian dollars.