His name is Adam Britton. He looks like a nice, normal fellow . . . the sort you might enjoy knowing as a neighbor or co-worker. He’s also renowned as a zoologist and crocodile expert who has worked on BBC and National Geographic productions.

And he has now pled guilty to 56 — fifty-six! — charges of . . .

No, I can’t say it, or even type the words, without wanting to retch.

Try again.

Because he has pled guilty in Australia to 56 charges relating to bestiality and animal cruelty. He has been sentenced by the Northern Territory Supreme Court to ten years and five months in prison “after admitting to sexually abusing dozens of dogs . . .” [Tiffanie Turnbull, BBC News, August 8, 2024.]

Holy Mother of God . . . what is this world coming to??!!!

And, just incidentally, he has also admitted to four counts of accessing child abuse material.

The BBC report continues: “Much of the detail of Britton’s crimes are too graphic to publish, and so ‘grotesque’ Chief Justice Michael Grant warned the courtroom they could cause ‘nervous shock.’”

”As the facts of the case were read aloud, some members of the public rushed outside. Others watching from the gallery cried and mouthed insults at Britton . . . Justice Grant said the ‘unalloyed pleasure’ Britton took in torturing the animals was ‘sickeningly evident.’” [BBC News, id.]

Mercifully, the good people at BBC News had the sound judgment and sense of decency to omit the most gruesome details, and I shall follow suit here. But the news report does shed light on Britton’s past, including the fact that his unnatural, sadistic tendencies toward animals date back to his childhood. And yet it all went undetected until 2022, when he uploaded a sickening video clip containing an identifiable City of Darwin dog leash in the background. Within weeks, he was arrested, and he’s been in custody ever since.

*. *. *

My sole purpose in commenting on this disturbing story is to point out the similarities to the many cases involving mass killers who are found, only after the fact, to have exhibited signs of sadism or other mental anomalies dating back many years, often to childhood. And each time it happens, family, friends, teachers, and neighbors all seem suddenly to recall an incident or two that were out of character for an otherwise “normal” individual. Or someone will come forward to say they suspected all along that something was not right, but didn’t feel comfortable reporting it to authorities.

And thus, a future mass murderer goes unchecked . . . until it is too late. The fact that the victims in Adam Britton’s case were four-legged animals rather than humans does not make his crimes any less horrific; in fact, to my mind they are worse. The animals are helpless, defenseless, unable even to speak for themselves. All they ever wanted in life was to be loved. And they trusted this man, who had been trained to care for them, and instead, he . . .

Clearly, some mental disorder — perhaps even some specific traumatic event — caused Adam Britton to become the twisted man he is today. Why didn’t someone recognize it sooner? How do we get society to address these issues before, once again, it’s too late?

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
8/9/24