Appeal judge quashes animal-torture sentence

A New Zealand-born financier who was jailed in Australia for torturing to death 17 rabbits and a guinea pig has successfully appealed his conviction on the grounds of mental illness.

Brendan Francis McMahon, 37, was sentenced to a maximum of 16 months' jail in July on 18 counts of aggravated animal cruelty.

He used his company credit card to buy the animals and dumped their corpses in and around his inner-city office building.

Yesterday a Sydney district court judge quashed McMahon's conviction because the original sentencing judge had erred in rejecting McMahon's claim of mental illness.

McMahon said he was smoking A$250 ($287) worth of ice (methamphetamine) every three days in the month leading up to and during the crimes.

District Court Judge Peter Berman said the psychosis was not due to drugs alone. He was expected to deliver further rulings yesterday.

- AAP