A drunk man was found guilty of strangling his live-in girlfriend's parrot and was sentenced to three months and two weeks in prison after pleading guilty to cruelty to animals in the Magistrates' Court. He believed the sentence was too harsh and applied for bail to appeal against the sentence in the High Court.

He told the court earlier that he suffered from anxiety attacks afterwards, and his girlfriend broke up with him, hoping to change his sentence to a non-custodial sentence. The High Court judge rejected his appeal saying that the drunken man strangled the parrot to death, and the process must be extreme and excessive. Due to the use of force, the sentence imposed by the lower Court was only at the lower-middle level.

The appeal was dismissed and he was ordered to serve his sentence immediately.

The appellant Ye Yaofeng, 38 years old. He was accused of brutally beating a parrot in a room at Yi Long Wan, Tai Po, on March 4 last year, causing the parrot to suffer unnecessary pain.

According to the case, Ye's live-in girlfriend discovered that the parrot was missing on the morning of the incident, and later found the parrot's body in the trash can. She called Ye, who responded: "I drank, I was unhappy, I took him out and shot him to death." He said he regretted it afterwards.

The autopsy report stated that the parrot had lost feathers on its side and right neck, had lost its mouth and nasal cavities, and was bleeding from most of the skin on its body. The neck was injured when it connected to the spine, and there were rib fractures. The trauma caused the parrot to bleed into its lungs and become fatal.

In his appeal, Ye raised a number of grounds, including that the original Magistrate erred in finding that he used extreme force. However, the High Court Judge pointed out that the original Magistrate believed that as Ye was able to kill a parrot with his bare hands, he must have used extreme force. This inference is consistent with common sense.

The High Court Judge also saw relevant photos and pointed out that in order to strangle the parrot to death, Ye would have to strangle the parrot's neck hard and continuously for a period of time before it would suffocate to death. In the process, extreme and excessive force must be used.

In addition, Ye also said that he suffered from anxiety and phobia afterwards, and his girlfriend broke up with him. The High Court Judge emphasized that Ye's anxiety in the face of immediate imprisonment was normal. He brought it upon himself and did not constitute a valid excuse for mercy. He also said that such cruel behavior was disgusting and would not be tolerated by the court.

A social service order or suspended sentence failed to serve the society. The public delivers the message.

The sentence in this case was only of a lower-to-medium level and was not obviously excessive, so his appeal was dismissed.

Main Source: HK01

Case Reference: HCMA 434 of 2022