A MAN who brutally bashed nine puppies to death with a brick has been jailed for at least 12 months as a court was told of the “excruciating pain and fear” felt by the dogs before their deaths.

media_camera Protesters celebrate the announcement that Nathan Thompson, 25, who killed nine puppies in Kurri Kurr, has received a prison sentence at Newcastle Court. Picture by Peter Lorimer

Nathan Thompson, 25, previously pleaded guilty to bashing the dogs with a brick in bushland near Kurri Kurri in the Hunter Valley in March when a court was told he had picked up the litter of 11 pups for free after answering an online ad.

Nine of the pups died in two callous separate bashing incidents on March 11, another died on the way to a vet, while one dog named Lucky remains the sole survivor.

media_camera The girlfriend and mother of Nathan Thompson are greeted by protesters as they leave Newcastle Court. Picture by Peter Lorimer

Thompson was sentenced yesterday to 18 months jail with a non-parole period of 12 months. Thompson told police he was aware that he could simply surrender the puppies to the RSPCA, but chose to kill them himself because he didn’t have enough fuel in his car to make it to the local shelter.

The witness who reported the killings described the scene as a “massacre” and said he had seen Thompson beating the animals to death with a brick.

media_camera Terrier Ruby joins protest media_camera Protester Kimberley Veldman outside court.

media_camera Protester Kimberley Veldman outside the court hearing. Picture: Peter Lorimer

Thompson’s LegalAid solicitor, Rob Hussey, said his client was under the influence of methamphetamine when the killings took place. He asked that rehabilitation rather than full-time jail be considered, submitting that the way the dogs were killed was a“relatively painless exercise”.

But police prosecutor Jamie Palmer pushed for a jail term, given Thompson had killed several pups before being seen, then went to another location to continue killing the dogs.

media_camera RSPCA Chief Inspector Dave OShannessy at Newcastle Court after the verdict. Picture by Peter Lorimer

Thompson’s charges of serious animal cruelty and aggravated animal cruelty carried a maximum five-year jail term.

Magistrate Robert Stone said he was “firmly” of the opinion that only a sentence of full-time custody was appropriate, however he was obliged to award Thompson a 25 per cent discount due to his early guilty plea.

Mr Stone, who assessed Thompson as having a medium to high risk of re-offending, did not accept the assertion that he was under the influence of ice.

Post-mortem examinations showed the pups killed in the second beatings suffered greater head trauma than those in the first. RSPCA officers concluded that they would have suffered “excruciating pain and fear” prior to their deaths.

Security inside and outside the Newcastle court yesterday was tightened for the sentencing, with fears a group of protesters outside the building could disrupt proceedings.