When deciding Peter Smith’s appeal against the severity of his sentence for animal cruelty, Judge Timothy Gartelmann said the New Zealander had displayed a lack of insight into how serious his offending had been at the time but now realised what he had done was wrong.

The judge granted Smith’s appeal in Newcastle District Court on Friday, reducing his sentence to a $2000 fine but maintaining his conviction.

Smith, 58, had provided a letter to the court where he apologised, claimed to understand the consequences of his actions and was committed to making amends, Judge Gartelmann said.

He said a psychological report shed some insight into Smith’s reasons for his offending.

Smith had been raised impoverished in a rural area of New Zealand where he was taught at an early age to slaughter animals for food.

But the judge said while killing animals was normalised for Smith, he had no right to grab Betty White and toss the chicken into an alligator pen as food for them.

Defence lawyer Bryan Wrench told the court Smith, who had no prior criminal history, planned to lodge a fresh application for Australian citizenship after the appeal was finalised.

Smith had initially been placed on a nine-month intensive correction order and required to perform 100 hours of community service in November after pleading guilty to one count of aggravated animal cruelty.

In Raymond Terrace Local Court, Magistrate Justin Peach found Smith had watched an alligator kill the chicken for his own viewing pleasure on January 2, 2024 at the Oakvale wildlife park at Salt Ash.

“There is a degree, in my view, of sadism in part of this act,” Peach told Smith.

Smith, of Hunterview, claimed he just wanted to feed the chicken to an alligator because it looked hungry.

He had reached over a concrete rock wall and grabbed the white Chinese silkie bantam chook from its enclosure before putting it inside his shirt.

Smith then walked through the reptile exhibit towards the alligator enclosure before throwing Betty White into the pond where two 2.4 metre long alligators were lurking.

One of the alligators snapped the chicken up into its mouth, killing it instantly, as Smith watched on.

Betty White played a vital role in the park’s endangered species breeding program providing surrogacy to chicks.

The magistrate said park staff had been distressed over the chicken’s fate and he viewed the offence as just above the mid-range of animal cruelty.

Judge Gartelmann on Friday described Smith’s offending as “relatively serious” involving cruelty of an animal aggravated by the way Betty White had died.

He granted Smith’s appeal because of the remorse he had shown and how he had already completed the community service work and more than four months of the intensive correction order.

The judge pointed out a psychological report revealed Smith was worried about the ramifications at his local church over what he had done and had subsequently suffered a generalised anxiety disorder.

A sentence assessment report also mentioned Smith telling a community corrections officer he remembered thinking at the time he might have gone too far when tossing Betty White to its death.

Judge Gartelmann added he did not think maintaining Smith’s conviction would jeopardise his fresh application for Australian citizenship.

Smith refused to comment outside court.