Tom Quach: Man who decapitated and cooked IBIS learns his fate
Tom Quach: Man who decapitated and cooked IBIS learns his fate
- Man who killed an ibis bird and tried to cook it has been jailed
- Tom Quach appeared at court with a tea towel on his head
- He pleaded guilty to animal torture and animal cruelty
A man has been convicted of capturing an ibis in a public park and killing it before trying to cook it for dinner.
Tom Quach appeared in Sydney’s Waverley District Court on Wednesday after pleading guilty to torturing an animal to death, two counts of animal cruelty and three counts of causing harm to an animal.
The court was told that in May he caught an ibis affectionately known as a ‘baking chicken’ in a park before packing it into his backpack and returning to its home in eastern Sydney.
The 60-year-old then decapitated the native bird and hung it in the shower to dry it out before attempting to cook it.
Earlier this year, he was arrested after a video went viral of him trying to cram another ailing ibis into his backpack.
The man who tried to cook and ibis, Tom Quach (pictured), appeared in court on Wednesday with a tea towel on his head
The Maroubra man had tied a rope around the bird’s legs and neck and was trying to push it into a red trolley bag near Eastwood train station.
Civilians intervened and were able to take the bird from the man. It had an injured beak and was bleeding but flew away, according to witnesses.
Quach’s lawyer previously told the court that the Vietnamese national was confused about the ibis’s protective status, as he had previously caught and eaten the bird in Queensland.
Quach also pleaded guilty to possession of a banned drug and three counts of shoplifting.
Curiously, he wore a tea towel tied around his head with a green band as he waited to learn his fate for the ten offences.
The court heard that the 60-year-old had previously been convicted of dishonesty and had continued to offend, mainly by stealing food.
Quach was caught on video trying to kidnap an ibis and stuffing it into his backpack in a public area
The Maroubra man pleaded guilty to torturing an animal to death, two counts of cruelty to an animal and three counts of harming an animal
His attorney Hayley Le said Quach had “less moral guilt than others” because of a mental illness and a “very serious drug problem on which he spends most of his retirement.”
She argued that more time behind bars would only further disable her client.
Magistrate Michael Price disagreed and sentenced Quach for his blatant and persistent disregard for the law.
“There clearly seems to be little effort on your part to deal with this violation, which wastes the resources of shops and police,” he said.
“The transgressions show that you are unable to fulfill your obligations in a civilized society on your behalf.”
However, the magistrate said the animal cruelty offenses against the ibises were “more concerning.”
Magistrate Price sentenced the 60-year-old to six months in prison for the offenses of animal cruelty and shoplifting
“Whatever view you have of those kinds of birds, it’s serious business to treat those birds the way you have,” he chided Quach.
“You can’t treat animals like that.”
Magistrate Price sentenced the 60-year-old to six months in prison for the offenses of animal cruelty and shoplifting.
He is eligible for release on February 8, 2024.
Quach was also fined $600 for damaging the ibises, which carries no jail time.