CHICKENS were decapitated, burnt, stabbed and punched during a barbaric attack by two Barnsley men.
One of the birds had its head pulled off, another was sent 15ft into the air after being stabbed with the spikes of a garden rake and a third was thrown on a fire, Barnsley Magistrates' Court was told.
An eyewitness to the attack was left in tears and was so horrified and distressed at what she saw from her home that she drew the kitchen blinds, said Jayne Ormrod, prosecuting.
Jack Handley and Rhys Tomlinson, both 20, and about four others had lit a bonfire with wood from a fence at the allotments in Cudworth.
Handley said later that he knew nothing about any chickens being killed, but Tomlinson gave a different version when he was also quizzed by officers.
Mrs Ormrod added: "Mr Tomlinson felt intimidated. He recalled chickens being killed and did not feel good about it.
"He could have stopped it but did not want to be a grass. He remembered one of the chickens being thrown onto the bonfire."
Handley, of Thruxton Close, and Tomlinson, of Summerdale Road, both Cudworth, were warned by District Judge John Foster they faced prison.
Handley admitted causing unnecessary suffering to seven chickens and Tomlinson admitted criminal damage.
They will be sentenced on August 7 and were granted unconditional bail.
