Kangaroo Flat kitten killer Darren Fisher has been locked up for three months and told he cannot use his alcoholism to excuse his offending.
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On January 21 this year Fisher, 42, ripped the head off a child’s kitten in a drunken rage.
This week he pleaded guilty to a raft of charges in the Bendigo Magistrates Court, including aggravated animal cruelty and unlawful assault.
The court was told Fisher had become enraged when a 12-year-old neighbour had jumped on the roof of his car.
He demanded the boy’s mother give him $10,000 to pay for the damage, then picked up her young daughter’s kitten and decapitated it with his bare hands, throwing the head across the road and dumping its body in the gutter.
Two months later, Fisher returned to the child’s home, did a burnout in the family’s front yard and then yelled at his father: “Tell your son to come out and jump on my car again and I will rip his head off like the f***ing cat.” The court was told Fisher had served prison terms before and had several convictions for making threats to kill and unlawful assault.
Magistrate Jennifer Tregent said she estimated most of these were committed under the influence of alcohol.
“You’re common line seems to be, ‘I was so intoxicated I don’t remember the offending’,” she said. “But it cannot be acceptable for a person to shirk responsibility by saying ‘I was intoxicated at the time’.”
Ms Tregent said Fisher’s behaviour was “cruel and sadistic”.
“Only a term of imprisonment served immediately will reflect the condemnation of the court,” she said.
Ms Tregent sentenced Fisher to an effective total of three months’ jail.
She placed him on a 12-month community corrections order with 120 hours of unpaid community work that will begin on his release.
Ms Tregent also imposed a $400 fine and ordered Fisher to complete treatment for alcohol abuse and anger management.