Dog killer James Alexander Rech jailed for five years for drug-fuelled crime spree

A drug addict stabbed his friend and dismembered his housemate’s dog in a “sadistic” crime spree, the District Court has heard.

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT

A drug addict stabbed his friend and dismembered his housemate’s eight-month-old dog in a “sadistic” crime spree, the District Court has heard.

On Friday, James Alexander Rech, 20, was sentenced for a string of crimes between April 2017 and July 2018 including assaulting police, aggravated assault, causing harm with intent and aggravated ill treatment of an animal to cause death.

Judge Sophie David said the offending, which culminated in a gruesome three-day drug-fuelled crime spree in July last year, was “of the utmost seriousness”.

“You also, on occasion, appear to have taken some sadistic pleasure in observing another person’s pain and discomfort,” she said.

She said Rech had repeatedly stabbed his housemate’s American Staffordshire Terrier, Warlock, over an alleged debt.

American Staffordshire Terrier Warlock, who was eight months old when he was killed by James Rech. Picture: RSPCA

Warlock’s owner bought him as an eight-week-old puppy. Picture: RSPCA

Police found Rech “standing in the street, covered in blood, holding the head of the dog in one hand and a meat cleaver in the other” in Hampstead Gardens.

Judge David said photographs of the aftermath were truly disturbing.

In a separate attack less than 24 hours earlier, an intoxicated and agitated Rech had demanded his visiting friend stay overnight and clean his kitchen.

After refusing to stay but agreeing to clean the kitchen, Rech slashed the victim multiple times with a kitchen knife in a “painful and humiliating” assault.

He refused to let his victim go to hospital, instead ordering him into the bathroom where he used a knife and handheld blowtorch to cauterise the wound.

“Your victim described the pain inflicted upon him as being ‘through the roof’,” Judge David said.

She said Rech’s escalating crimes had targeted police officers, his former girlfriend, housemate, associate, a stranger and a defenceless animal.

The court has previously heard Rech, who is in remission from leukaemia he suffered as a teenager, had described himself as “an evil, putrid nut case” when on drugs.

He was jailed for five years and six days, with a non-parole period of three years for all of the offences.

He is also banned from owning an animal.

As part of that sentence, Judge David imposed a sentence of 12 months for killing Warlock, nine months of which was to be served cumulatively on his other penalties.

The RSPCA said Warlock was a “much-loved member of the family” after his owner had saved up to buy him as an eight-week-old puppy.

RSPCA lawyer Damon Ind speaks to the media after James Rech was sentenced to jail. Picture: AAP / Kelly Barnes

Outside court, RSPCA lawyer Damon Ind said the attack on the beautiful dog was appalling and was quite traumatic for the association’s inspectors “who had to pick up the pieces, literally”.

“That dog would have been so panicked, so horrified at not being able to escape that attack,” he said.

“You are never going to be able to bring that dog back. You are never going to be able to properly reflect the fear and the panic that the dog endured,” he said.

He said the sentence was enough for Rech’s crimes, but was frustrated that sentences in animal cruelty cases were generally not harsh enough.