Aussie Man Who Ran Over And Killed Nearly A Dozen Emus Has Sentence Reduced

An Aussie man who was sentenced to a little more than a month behind bars for running over and killing a bunch of emus has had his jail term reduced on appeal.

Australia reacted in horror when video footage emerged showing Jacob Scott Macdonald plough through a herd of the birds at Cowangie near the South Australian border.

He was heard in the video saying 'fucking emus' and 'this is fucking great', as the emus were hit by the four-wheel-drive and spat out the back of the vehicle. Macdonald ended up killing 10 emus during his rampage, which saw him get up to speeds of 120km/h.

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The 21-year-old was sentenced to 41 days in jail and fined $800 back in May, however that has down been brought down to 21 days.

According to the ABC, the young man has been placed on a nine-month community corrections order, which requires 100 hours of unpaid work. The judge recommended the work be done with an animal welfare charity.

Judge David Sexton said the offender showed 'deliberate, sustained and gratuitous behaviour' and recognised that this case needed to serve as a deterrent, adding that 'members of the community need to understand that such serious matters of animal cruelty will not go unpunished in a real sense'.

After Macdonald was charged, he was interviewed by Channel 7 where he expressed little remorse for his crime.

"I could show you some photos of the destruction the emus make down here. We've been in drought. We're literally growing crops on about four inches of rain," he told the TV network.

"You've got these animals coming in and making a mess.

"The reason there is so many on the road is because they're looking for something to eat. And there's nothing. They're just that poorly, they need to be put down.

"Here is what the RSPCA doesn't understand, they go on about cruelty, they should come out here and have a look at the state of these...they're not doing anything for them."

But when he was pressed on the prospect of serving time for his offences, he did offer up a bit of hindsight.

"It was a mistake, it was a silly idea. It's not funny anymore, it was at the time. It's the biggest stuff up of my life. I'm not proud of it," he said.

Topics: News, Animals, Australia

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie is a Trending Journalist at LADbible. His first job was as a newsreader and journalist at the award winning Sydney radio station, Macquarie Radio. He was solely responsible for the content broadcast on multiple stations across Australia when the MH17, Germanwings and AirAsia disasters unfolded. Stewart has covered the conflict in Syria for LADbible, interviewing a doctor on the front line, and has contributed to the hugely successful UOKM8 campaign.

@stewartperrie