A Nelson teen was the second person sentenced for the brutal killing of a stag last year after it was run down by a vehicle and then had its throat slit. Photo / 123RF
A Nelson teen was the second person sentenced for the brutal killing of a stag last year after it was run down by a vehicle and then had its throat slit. Photo / 123RF
Warning: This story contains details about cruelty to an animal
Mackenzie Brewerton slit a stag’s throat as it lay injured on the ground. Now he’s been sentenced for unlawful hunting and reckless ill-treatment of a wild animal.
Brewerton’s friend Quinn Woodman has already been sentenced for chasing the stag and hitting it with his car while his friends filmed the act and posted the footage to social media.
His lawyer says he comes from a family who worked the land and was familiar with animal welfare and he now regrets his behaviour.
A teen stockman whose livelihood involves animals hung his head in a gesture of shame as a judge recounted his part in the brutal killing of a wild stag.
Mackenzie Brewerton was part of a group of five who in the early hours of a March morning last year travelled in two vehicles to Nelson’s Marsden Valley intending to hunt deer by hitting them with a vehicle.
Woodman had chased the animal down in his ute, striking it so hard the animal was flung into the air before hitting the ground and breaking its bones.
Marsden Valley in Nelson, where a wild stag was run down by a vehicle and then had its throat slit. Photo / Google Maps
As the animal lay injured and unable to escape, Brewerton grabbed it by the antlers and, as one member of the group helped to restrain it, he slit its throat as it thrashed about on the ground.
He said he had intended to “end its suffering” but this explanation was not accepted by the police.
The “gratuitous and violent act” was then posted on social media to a Snapchat group named Nz Poaches (sic).
Videos of the abuse shared on social media received “significant negative attention” that likely led police to investigate, Judge Jo Rielly said while sentencing Woodman last October.
Brewerton now accepted the manner of hunting caused the animal to suffer unreasonable pain and distress.
Judge Rielly told him it was, fortunately, “unusual behaviour”, but also, concerning.
“Your conduct in my assessment about what occurred and what you have said about your role is that it was naive, immature behaviour on your part.”
She said it also reflected how out-of-character behaviour could also be driven by a group dynamic.
Woodman was described as the lead offender because he was the one who drove his vehicle at the animal, which was part of a mob of deer roaming Marsden Valley.
‘Stag in the middle... Go, go, go’
It was about 3am on March 30 when Woodman, Brewerton, one other adult and two youths drove to Marsden Valley in convoy. The valley in suburban Nelson borders large tracts of native bush and features parks and reserves where feral deer are known to roam.
Woodman was in the lead driving his Toyota Hilux.
They did not have permission from Nelson City Council to hunt in the area, police said.
They came upon a mob of about eight deer on the road. Woodman accelerated hard as others in the vehicle directed him towards the stag, shouting, “Stag in the middle” and “Go, go, go, go!” as a young female in the group filmed it on a cellphone.
A person in the following vehicle, about 80m behind, also filmed the incident on his cellphone while driving, police said.
Several deer ran off the road and Woodman slowed as he reached the remaining animals.
He then swerved towards the stag and struck it on the rear so hard it was thrown and spun three times before falling to the road, where it lay thrashing.
It was then that the passengers cheered before Woodman told them to get out of the ute.
As they did, the deer tried to get away but was unable to because of injuries consistent with blunt-force trauma, including broken bones.
The driver in the following vehicle got out, still filming, as Brewerton slit its throat.
Regrets his behaviour
Today, Brewerton was supported in court by his parents and an employer, as his lawyer Mark Dollimore said the young stockman, from a family who worked on the land and who were familiar with animals and their welfare, “definitely regretted his behaviour”.
Dollimore said his client’s parents hoped Brewerton would continue with the therapy and counselling to address his volatility and depression since the incident which had exacerbated trauma from an earlier car accident.
Judge Rielly said in sentencing Brewerton to four months of community detention with a daily curfew and 100 hours of community work that a feature of the offending was the “significant distress” caused to the stag and the level of gratuitous cruelty for the group’s enjoyment.
She accepted he was genuinely sorry for his role in what happened and hoped he could move on and not let what had happened define the rest of his life.
“You made a mistake and you have borne some of the consequences while on bail and you will again after sentencing.
“People make mistakes but it doesn’t make them a bad person. In time you will put this behind you and see it as a life experience,” Judge Rielly said.
Tracy Neal is a Nelson-based Open Justice reporter at NZME. She was previously RNZ’s regional reporter in Nelson-Marlborough and has covered general news, including court and local government for the Nelson Mail.
