Monday afternoon's news in under 5 minutes.

We’ve rounded up all the news you need to know this afternoon — so you don’t have to go searching.

1. Man who killed nine puppies has been jailed.

By ABC

A man who bashed and killed nine puppies in the NSW Hunter Valley has been sentenced to a minimum of a year in jail.

Nathan Thompson, 25, pleaded guilty to about a dozen animal cruelty charges after he bludgeoned the puppies to death in March in bushland at Kurri Kurri, north-west of Newcastle.

In sentencing him at Newcastle Local Court, Magistrate Robert Stone described Thompson’s actions as senseless, brutal, cold-hearted and callous.

He said Thompson had “no insight into the enormity of his actions” and an “appalling lack of empathy for the plight of each animal”.

Thompson was sentenced to 18 months’ jail, to serve a minimum of 12 months.

After the sentence was handed down, Thompson wiped his eyes and said to his mother and his partner: “I love you”.

The RSPCA’s David O’Shannessy said the sentence would act as a deterrent for others in the community.

Inside, the prosecution argued “you’d have to be deaf and blind” not to hear the puppies yelping and see them gasping for air during the attack that led to their deaths.

Thompson’s lawyer told the court his client was “not in a normal frame of mind” at the time, because he had taken ice and had not slept for three days – but the magistrate did not accept that evidence.

The court had previously heard Thompson was aware of humane alternatives, such as surrendering the dogs to the RSPCA, but chose to kill them himself.

Police documents said Thompson thought about taking the animals to an RSPCA shelter near Maitland but decided not to because he did not have enough fuel in his car.

A witness was walking his own dogs when he heard yelping and saw Thompson striking the puppies with a brick.

Thompson had already been banned from animal ownership for life.

This article originally appeared online at the ABC.

2. The number of preschoolers prescribed anti-psychotic drugs has doubled in past five years.

A staggering increase in the number of Australian preschoolers being prescribed antipsychotic drugs has experts worried, the Courier-Mail reports.

The figure has more than doubled, with more than 1,100 children aged between 2 and 6 given antipsychotic drugs under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme in 2012-13, up from 523 in 2007-08.

In QLD, there was a 75 per cent increase from 169 to 296 children.

Child psychiatrist Jon Jureidini said antipsychotics were powerful tranquilising drugs with unknown long-term effects.

“They can cause permanent neurological damage and permanent metabolic damage and almost everybody that takes them puts on weight,” he told the Courier-Mail.

The most popular medication was risperidone, which was prescribed to all but 96 of the 1106 children aged under 6 on antipsychotics in 2012-13.

3. Women freed from Boko Haram captivity speak about their horrific ordeal.

More than 260 women and children stranded after fleeing a Boko Haram attack have been located and returned to their homes in Madagli.

The women said Islamic militants killed men and older boys in front of their families and took women and children into the forest, where many died of hunger and disease, the ABC reports.

“Everyday we witnessed the death of one of us and waited for our turn,” a survivor said.

The women were subjected to rape, stoning, malnutrition, and were only fed ground dry maize.

Nearly 700 kidnap victims have been freed since Tuesday, though it is still unclear if any of the kidnapped Chibok schoolgirls are among the them.

4. Australian Government condemns the killing of dolphins and seals.

Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt has slammed a factory fishing trawler following the “unacceptable and outrageous” deaths of eight dolphins and four seals that were caught in its net.

The Geelong Start ship voluntarily returned to its home port after it caught four dolphins and two seals on its second local outing, the ABC reports.

On their first trip, ship also killed four dolphins and two seals in its first trip.

The Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) stated earlier this week that the ship would face stricter controls, though the deaths of marine mammals was inevitable.

Hunt has said that he would contact the AFMA and Tasmanian senator Richard Colbeck, who is a defender of the trawler’s methods.

5. Police are searching for ute driver in the hunt for a missing woman.

Police are searching for the driver of a white ute that picked up missing Springbrook woman Mihiata Bruce following her car accident last week on the Gateway Motorway at Belmont.

The 45-year-old has not been seen since.

Ms Bruce (pictured) got into the ute after her silver Toyota Corolla hit a roadside barrier north of the Old Cleveland Road exit shortly after midday last Wednesday, the Brisbane Times reports.

Police said it was very out of character for Ms Bruce not to contact her family.

She is described as approximately 165 centimetres tall with a slim build, brown hair and hazel eyes.

Anyone with information which could assist with this matter should contact Crime Stoppers anonymously via 1800 333 000 or crimestoppers.com.au.

Do you have a news tip? Email us at news@mamamia.com.au

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