Law student sentenced for stomping on sandwich-stealing bird
25 March 2011
Andrew Quay Wee Meng, a 25 year-old Brisbane-based law student was sentenced to community service after stamping on an ibis repeatedly, inflicting so much damage that the bird had to be put down.

Being hauled before a judge before you've even completed law school is not the most auspicious start to anyone's legal career. But that's where Quay Wee Meng found himself last week after a quiet, al fresco sandwich turned into an ornithological attack. He was lunching on a bench when the bird "snuck up from behind" and jumped onto the table, prompting the student to throw the bird to the ground and stomp on it five times.

Definitely not recommended viewing for Quay Wee Meng

The attack broke the bird's wing and neck and meant that it had to be euthanised, according to a Herald Sun report. Whilst Quay Wee Meng pleaded guilty to animal cruelty, in his defence he brought up his particularly heightened fear of birds which he says developed after he was "attacked by a large crow".

The court was not impressed, and the wannabe lawyer copped 120 hours of community service. It was only his budding law career, his youth and his lack of criminal past which stopped the judge imposing a jail sentence.