He threw live animals into a hot grill pan and watched them die. But not only that: He filmed his actions and thus documented his joy in them. After several appeals, it is now clear that the man from Bavaria is fully culpable.

An animal abuser from Bavaria has been sentenced to two years and nine months in prison for the sadistic killing of rats and birds. In a new appeal before the district court of Weiden, the man finally agreed to the conviction of the district court of Weiden in 2021, said a court spokesman. A psychiatric report had previously shown that the man was fully culpable.

In April 2021, the 32-year-old tortured animals he had previously bought from a pet shop until they died. So he put live rats in a microwave oven and let them run until they died. In another instance, he threw two live rats into a hot grill pan on the stove and left them to die, severed the toes of another rat while still alive, and set others on fire with lighter fluid.

He also made a rat fight with a bird. The man continued to desecrate the animals after they died, he filmed his actions. In the first verdict, the district court found that the man’s joy in the sadistic acts could be heard impressively on the videos – sometimes he insulted the dying animals in their agony.

In an appeal, the district court in Weiden initially increased the sentence to three years in prison. After a successful appeal before the Bavarian Higher Regional Court by the animal abuser, the case had to be retried, and the psychiatric report was also introduced. After the expert had determined the full criminal responsibility of the accused, he agreed to the first judgment.

This is now legally binding. The fact that the man already had a criminal record and committed the offenses during open probation played a role in the comparatively high sentence. The court also found that the man acted in an objectively disgusting and brutal manner.