Daniel Brighton found guilty of animal cruelty offences

WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT. A petting zoo owner was found guilty of animal cruelty offences for beating a dog in Minto.

Get Wild Animal Experiences owner Daniel Brighton has been convicted of animal cruelty offences.

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The owner of a mobile petting zoo whose website says it wants to make wildlife conservation ‘fun and exciting’ has been found guilty of animal cruelty after stabbing a dog with a pitchfork before hanging it from a tree and bashing its head with a mallet.

Daniel Brighton faces up to five years behind bars after being found guilty of animal cruelty offences at Campbelltown Local Court today.

The incident occurred after the dog attacked a camel held at Mr Brighton’s Farm Friends facility in Minto on January 14 2016.

Brighton is the owner of Get Wild Animal Experiences, a mobile petting zoo which houses an array of animals.

Magistrate Shane McAnulty said the testimony of former employee Alana Doel, who witnessed the incident, was proved to be true and indicated he would likely consider jail time for Brighton.

Mr Brighton’s camel Alice was attacked by two dogs in January 2016.

Miss Doel previously told the court that she saw Brighton catch the dog after it had attacked the camel ‘Alice’ in the early hours of the morning.

He stabbed it multiple times with a pitchfork, leaving it lodged in the dog’s abdomen.

The Minto man later returned to move the dog’s body and, after realising it was alive as he dragged it along the ground, lifted the dog by the leash around its neck and hung it from a tree branch.

Brighton then bashed the dog over the head ‘six to eight times’ with a mallet.

He previously claimed in court that the dog was killed with a shovel while it was still attacking the camel.

But on Monday he refused to continue testifying before he could be cross-examined by RSPCA prosecutor Lisa-Claire Hutchinson.

Defence barrister Marcel Sahade asked Mr McAnulty to disregard Brighton’s testimony, which the magistrate refused.

Mr Sahade said Brighton was relying on the statutory defence that his actions were carried out in the process of killing a pest animal.

Damage to the legs of Alice the camel less than a month after the incident

Mr McAnulty rejected the defence argument and said Miss Doel’s testimony was, in part, supported by medical evidence from Taronga Zoo specialist Dr Lydia Tong, who examined the exhumed dog’s remains.

“She (Dr Tong) was of the opinion that the exhumed dog was buried with multiple traumatic injuries and that those injuries occurred in the perimortem period,” he said.

Mr McAnulty said he accepted Miss Doel’s testimony as fact.

“Her demeanour was understandably and very noticeably distressed,” he said.

“Either she is an incredibly powerful actor or very distressed… I take the view she was very distressed.

Former employee Alana Doel says Mr Brighton stabbed the dog with a pitchfork before hanging it over a tree branch and beating it with a mallet.

“When asked why she didn’t leave by the accused’s previous counsel he got an answer I don’t think he was hoping for, she said: ‘I couldn’t leave those animals in danger, If I left they would die.’

Mr McAnulty said even if he accepted that the dog was a pest animal, Brighton would have had to report the incident and was not allowed to kill the animal in the manner he did.

Mr Sahade claimed Brighton’s words ‘‘it won’t f***ing die’ and ‘it f***ing stood up’ before stringing the dog up on the tree branch were evidence that he was of the belief he was exterminating a pest animal.

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“It’s equally an inference of his anger,” Mr McAnulty said in his judgment today.

“He had lost the plot at that point and was intent on retribution.”

Brighton will be sentenced at Campbelltown Local Court next week.

In January 2016, Mr Brighton started a GoFundMe page asking for community donations to upgrade the pen for Alice the camel after the incident.