Nathan Sanger pleads guilty at Bega Local Court to running down and killing 21 kangaroos
Nathan Sanger’s crimes ‘involved a lot of suffering to defenceless animals’ and prompted a wave of community outcry, but a magistrate has decided he won’t serve time.
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A teenager who inflicted “an amount of gratuitous cruelty” on 21 kangaroos he tortured and killed on the South Coast in September was a “impressionable young man”, a court has heard.
Nathan Sanger, 19, pleaded guilty to torturing, beating and killing an animal at Bega Local Court on Tuesday, where he narrowly avoided being locked up.
Sanger took part in running down the kangaroos at Tura Beach, north of Eden on 28 September, prompting a wave of community outrage.
Sanger’s defence lawyer, Adam Linehan, said the teenager’s actions “involved a lot of suffering to defenceless animals” and “caused a lot of shock in the community”.
“It did involve an amount of gratuitous cruelty,” he said.
The court heard Sanger works full time and, since being charged. has been volunteering at a local wildlife shelter, caring for orphaned animals.
“The entire process of being charged ... along with the public condemnation for his actions has been a salutary lesson for him,” Mr Linehan said.
He said Sanger was an “impressionable young man and the involvement of the 33-year-old, while not lessening Mr Sangar’s involvement, puts it into context”.
Magistrate Doug Dick said court staff had been inundated with letters urging him throw the book at those responsible.
“I know that your family is extremely disappointed in you but at the same time they’re here to support you,” he said.
“What you have done may in time be forgiven but it will never be forgotten.
“Each time you lined up a kangaroo, in some respect it was another act of cruelty with no regard to the pain the animal would suffer.
“The law recognises that animals suffer pain, just like humans ... it’s been said before that people who can hurt animals can hurt humans.
“Luckily we have got you at an age where you haven’t built up a record.”
Sangar’s alleged co-offender, Ashley Sorenson, 33, on Tuesday pleaded not guilty and will return to court in January.
Police prosecutor Sergeant Liza Brown told the court Sorenson was in the car at the same time as Sanger.
Sorenson gave camera crews the finger as he left court.
Mr Dick sentenced Sanger to a two year intensive correction order, with 500 hours of community service, saying that full time jail was a “last resort”.
“Every hour you work ... just keep saying to yourself it’s better than being locked up.”