A thug who was filmed stabbing a kangaroo more than 20 times in the head and neck before kicking the animal and spitting on it claims he was so drunk that he can not remember the inhumane acts.

Ricky Ian Swan, 28, attacked the animal between May 19 and June 16 at an unknown location in WA.

He chased the adult kangaroo as it tried to escape him and stabbed the distressed animal in the back of the neck with a large knife when it fell to the ground.

Swan then stabbed the kangaroo 22 times to the head and neck as it lay on the ground, injured but alive.

“Come here c…, come her c…, I will f…… cut your face you c…, f… you, you motherf…..,” he said as he stabbed the kangaroo.

The kangaroo kept trying to escape after the stabbing but was eventually overcome.

Swan stepped back and kicked the animal in the head and said “motherf….. run at me, that’s what you get” before he spat on it.

A 29-second video of the sickening incident was uploaded onto Snapchat by Swan’s co-accused Luke Kevin Dempster, who has indicated he will also plead guilty to animal cruelty charges.

Men can be heard laughing and encouraging Swan in the video.

Swan pleaded guilty to possessing things intended to inflict cruelty and ill-treating an animal.

During a sentencing hearing in Joondalup Magistrate’s Court today, defence lawyer John Hammond said Swan had been drinking heavily at the time of the attack and did not know where or when it happened.

“He was so intoxicated at the time that his first recollection of this attack is when the video came to light,” he said.

“Mr Swan accepts that this was a senseless, brutal, unfathomable assault for which there is no excuse.”

Mr Hammond said Swan had gone to counselling after he was charged and had stopped drinking alcohol.

He said Swan lost his job, split up with his pregnant partner and had been publicly shamed as a result of the incident.

Mr Hammond argued jail time would interfere with Swan’s “excellent prospects for rehabilitation” and said it was not in the best interest of the community.

He told the court his client was “absolutely totally ashamed of this despicable act”.

“He does not shy away from what an inhumane, senseless and pointless act this was,” Mr Hammond said.

Police prosecutors urged Magistrate Deen Potter to view the footage of the attack before sentencing, saying it showed Swan’s demeanour while he was carrying out the act.

They said that while Swan claimed to be so drunk that he could not remember the incident, he clearly had good motor skills during the filmed attack.

Police prosecutors said it was an “heinous attack on a defenceless animal”.

They said Swan showed aggression and anger, which must have come from a dark place and was not normal behaviour.

Mr Potter told Swan jail was the only appropriate punishment but said he had to consider whether the prison term should be immediate, suspended or conditionally suspended.

He adjourned the sentencing until next month.

Outside court, Animal Justice Party spokeswoman Jehni Thomas-Wurth said she was hopeful the magistrate would send a strong message that animal cruelty was unacceptable.

She said she felt an immediate prison term was warranted.

“I think the police have said that this is an example of some of the worst cases of animal cruelty they have ever seen,” she said.

“So as a result of that I think you have got to look for a penalty that is at the higher end of that which is possible.”

Swan’s other co-accused, Dylan Leslie Griffin and Ben Jaydon Malpuss, are yet to enter pleas.