Daniel Brighton to learn fate on animal cruelty charges this week

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT A petting zoo owner who allegedly beat and hung a dog will learn his fate this week after being charged with animal cruelty offences.

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The owner of a mobile petting zoo in south west Sydney facing animal cruelty charges is expected to learn his fate this week.

Daniel Brighton has been accused by the RSPCA of repeatedly stabbing a dog with a pitchfork before hanging it from a tree by the neck and bashing its head with a mallet.

If found guilty, Mr Brighton faces up to five years in prison for the incident which allegedly occurred after the dog attacked a camel at his Farm Friends facility in Minto during the early hours of the morning on January 14 2016.

Mobile petting zoo owner Daniel Brighton faces animal cruelty charges.

The RSPCA case relied upon the testimony of former employee Alana Doel who previously told the court she witnessed Mr Brighton stab the dog ‘six to eight times’ with the pitchfork before later stringing the dog over a tree branch and beating it on the head repeatedly with a mallet.

Mr Brighton denied Ms Doel’s version of events and told the court on March 29 this year that he had hit the dog with a shovel in an attempt to stop it clinging to the camel’s neck.

He said he had become fearful after it growled and snapped at him and he hit the dog numerous times, eventually killing it after it had attacked the camel again.

He was due to continue his testimony in Campbelltown Local Court today but declined to take the stand and his barrister Marcel Sahade asked magistrate Shane McAnulty to disregard Mr Brighton’s March 29 testimony.

Mr McAnulty declined to disregard the testimony.

Mr Sahade argued that the dog should be classified as a ‘pest animal’ or ‘wild dog’ despite it having a collar and microchip and that Mr Brighton’s actions were justified.

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

“Even if it was collared, even if it was owned (by someone)…. This dog came onto the land with another dog and attacked a camel, hanging from its neck,” he said.

“Let’s call a spade a spade, this dog went feral, you wouldn’t expect a golden retriever to do this or a pet animal.

“I wouldn’t think there’s a question that wild dogs can be pests.

“If a police officer was present at the time of the incident you would expect him to shoot it.”

Mr Sahade later argued that despite the ‘inhumane’ nature of the killing, Mr Brighton should not be prosecuted as ‘exterminating’ a pest animal was allowed within the law.

“Killing a pest animal with a pitchfork is still an appropriate way, it may not be the most humane,” he said.

Mr Sahade said Mr Brighton’s words ‘it won’t F***ing die’ and ‘it f***ing stood up’ before he strung it over the tree was proof that he was of the belief he was exterminating a pest animal.

RSPCA prosecutor Lisa-Claire Hutchinson said Mr Brighton’s defence were proof he had ‘accepted’ Ms Doel’s version of events.

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

Ms Hutchinson said Mr Brighton’s actions weren’t motivated by a desire to exterminate a pest animal but to cause the dog severe pain.

“His demeanour, his communication that it won’t die and his decision to string it up and hit it with a mallet is not consistent with intent to exterminate (a pest animal), it’s consistent with a decision to inflict severe pain,” she said.

“None of the striking with the pitchfork, dragging to a tree, stringing it up and hitting it with a mallet are consistent with the ethical extermination of the animal,”

Ms Hutchinson said Mr Brighton’s instructions to Ms Doel after the incident not to tell the other staff what had happened showed he had a ‘guilty conscience’.

Mr McAnulty will hand down his judgment in Campbelltown on Wednesday morning.