Is kicking a cat to death as bad as killing a deer? Animal cruelty man appeals sentence

A man who was jailed for 16 months for kicking a cat like a soccer ball claimed yesterday that his sentence was too heavy compared to another case where a man used a spade to beat a pregnant deer to death, the Court of First Instance heard.

Barrister David Iu, representing So Pak-lam, 23, submitted a precedent to Mr Justice Barnabas Fung Wah showing the Court of Appeal ruled that a six-month sentence was enough for an electrician who killed a deer on Lantau Island in 2008.

In that case, electrician Iu Chi-yung, 52, claimed he had drunk some beer and took a pole to confront some dogs whose barking was annoying him. But he mistook a deer for a dog, the court was told, and killed it.

He was convicted of cruelty to animals and was jailed for six months in a magistrate's court. The Department of Justice asked the appeal court to review the sentence, and the appeal court upheld the magistrate's decision.

Yesterday, the barrister claimed the appeal court's judgment stated the most severe sentence for the charge should only be imposed on those who inflicted "cruel acts out of a misguided and sadistic sense of fun at seeing an animal suffer over a prolonged time through torture".

He said that if the court found a six-month sentence was enough for the electrician, the 16-month sentence for So was "obviously too severe".