Seven years for encouraging a pitbull-puppy attack

A seven year prison sentence for setting a pitbull on another person seems steep. Not because it's a trivial crime. I'm not uncomfortable with the sentence per se but how other sentences for arguably worse crimes compare. The judge is certainly making a statement.

Contrast:

A man who rammed an ambulance, used a car as a weapon, drove recklessly, and assaulted people was jailed for three years with a non-parole term of 18 months, in the Christchurch District Court today.

And:

A teen, described in court as "a law unto himself", who used his car to ram a man sitting in a car in Greymouth has been jailed.Nineteen-year-old Jed Wilson-Calver was appearing in Christchurch District Court for sentence after pleading guilty to the charge of assault using a car as a weapon. Judge Erber said he could not consider home detention because of Wilson-Calver's attitude to community sentences.He jailed him for a total of eight months.

And just for good measure:

Attacks using dogs on Asian people walking in the streets of Christchurch have brought eight month jail terms for the owners and death for the dogs.Those jailed were 18-year-old Phillipa Ann Parker and her ex-boyfriend Steven Brian Donaldson, 25, who both admitted the attacks had racial overtones. Donaldson had admitted two charges of assault, and Parker admitted one charge of assault, and two charges of assault using dogs as weapons.