By Tracy Neal, Open Justice reporter
Egged on by passengers, Cody Paton revved his engine before deliberately driving at speed into a flock of pregnant sheep, killing one with the bull bars on the front of his ute.
File photo. Photo: RNZ / Diego Opatowski
He then put its body into the back of his ute and went to a party.
Paton, 24, was out drinking with mates in Wakefield, south of Nelson, in the early hours of 18 June. They were driving his 4WD ute, which was described by police as having alloy bull bars on the front, and fitted out with all-terrain tyres.
Today the Nelson District Court heard how Paton was on Eighty Eight Valley Road, an area surrounded by farmland, when he drove into a council road sign at speed, sending it flying into a nearby paddock.
He carried on driving before coming to a paddock full of pregnant ewes, and drove through the closed gate.
Once in the paddock, he revved the ute, performing skids and doughnuts in the farmer's paddock, ripping up the grass and frightening the ewes to one end of the paddock.
Paton then drove toward the flock, which had formed together about 100m away, then said: "Run a sheep over, sorry it's your time to die."
The court heard he then built up speed, aiming for a ewe standing side-on while driving at between 60 and 70kmh. He hit the sheep before running over it.
Paton stopped, got out of the vehicle and put the dead ewe on the back tray of the ute.
He then drove off and headed to a party, where he and one of the passengers were asked to leave when people at the address learned what had happened.
Paton left, and dumped the ewe in nearby blackberry bushes.
Today he admitted a charge of cruelty to an animal, plus other charges of wilful damage, possession of firearms and ammunition without a licence.
Defence lawyer Mark Dollimore said Wakefield was a close-knit farming community and while Restorative Justice might have been an option he did not think it would develop in this instance.
He said Paton had offered to meet the farmer but he was "emotionally annoyed" by what had happened.
Dollimore said while Paton accepted what he had done was cruel, he was not a cruel person. He said there were four other young people in the vehicle who had not been charged, and who had been encouraging him to act in the way he did.
Paton was described as a talented young mechanic who had come to the region from the Bay of Plenty, and was making good headway in his trade.
Dollimore told the court the firearms charges were linked to his owning a rifle and a shotgun, without a licence, because of the "pigs that would come to the front door" of his rural home.
Judge David Ruth told Paton he accepted it was unusual behaviour, influenced by him being "worse the wear for drink". He also noted Paton's voluntary $200 donation to the SPCA, as well as his good references.
"Everything I've read about you tells me this is not the real you."
Paton was ordered to pay a total of $2200 in fines and reparation, including $1500 reparation to the farmer for having killed the sheep, of which $900 was for the emotional harm caused.
He was convicted and discharged for intentionally damaging the farm gate and fined $300 plus court costs for damaging the council road sign.
Paton was also fined a total of $400 plus court costs on the firearms charges, with an order they be destroyed, and was convicted and discharged for possession of ammunition.
* This story originally appeared in the New Zealand Herald.