Teens stamped on fawn ‘for a laugh’

THREE youths killed a two-day-old fawn by stamping on it “for a laugh”, a court heard yesterday.

The teenagers, two 17-year-olds and a 16-year-old, caught the female baby deer as it waited for its mother in Upton Country Park, Dorset, on June 10 this year.

The trio, who cannot be named for legal reasons, were “egging” each other on with one boy swinging it by its leg, another karate chopping its head before all three “stomped” it to death, Paul Griffin, prosecuting told Poole Youth Court.

A postmortem showed the fawn suffered several skull fractures, a severed spine and a fractured leg.

The trio were arrested on June 15 after a police appeal attracted international interest and officers were tipped-off with their names.

Mr Griffin read extracts from their police interviews. “(The 17-year-old) said ‘For a laugh, break its leg’,” Mr Griffin said.

“The deer was moving, it was trying to escape. Then they all decided to kill it,” added Mr Griffin.

The youngest defendant told police he only nudged the fawn once with his foot and did not laugh like the others.

One of the older boys told police the fawn was already injured and they were putting it out of its misery.

The youths, from Poole, have pleaded not guilty to intentionally killing a deer while on land without consent and an alternative charge of beating a wild mammal with intent to cause unnecessary suffering.

The case continues.