(Photo credit: George Brzezna, MarineTraffic)
Animal advocates say that they have no faith in Tasmania’s justice system doing its job as the fallout from the Gretna Meatworks cruelty expose continues.
Suzanne Cass, from Stop Tasmanian Animal Cruelty, said: ‘Tasmanian magistrates have an appalling track record in dealing appropriately with cruelty cases. Time and time again, we’ve seen trivial, meaningless penalties handed out for the most egregious cruelty, and we believe that this will be no different,
‘Just last month, a woman received a suspended prison term and a paltry fine for dozens of charges relating to her horses, and did get a lifetime ban, but we have yet to see who enforces these bans, remembering the notorious James Turner case of years ago. Turner was banned from having more than 20 horses, and had, at any given time 60, and he never faced justice.
‘In the horrific Mitchell dairy farming case, Mitchell faced more than 100 crelty, aggravated cruelty, cruelty and “Mismanagement” charges. He was sentenced to just 15 months in prison, and appealed, succeeding in having that reduced to just a 6 month non-parole period.
Ms Cass is concerned that this case, defended by the slaughterhouse owner Michael Munnings in the face of overwhelming evidence of horrific cruelty over a protracted period of filming, will be swept under the carpet because the courts can rule the evidence inadmissible.
‘The investigating body is the Department of Primary Industries, and we remind the Department that we are still waiting for the report on its investigation into the shocking deaths of 50 cattle on a voyage from Stanley to Port Welshpool in Victoria back in February on the woefully inadequate vessel the Statesman, belonging to Les Dick Shipping back in February. Given that most of the facts are known, all appearances are that the Department hopes that the matter will just be forgotten’.
‘It’s way past time that magistrates and judges recognised that sentencing in such dreadful cases of abuse needs to reflect the community standards and expectations’, Ms Cass concluded.
SUMMARY OF EARLIER CASES HERE:
http://oldtt.pixelkey.biz/index.php/article/the-gross-failure-of-animal-cruelty
ABC REPORT HERE
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-10-14/tasmanian-abattoir-accused-of-animal-cruelty/7924804
Suzanne Cass, Stop Tasmanian Animal Cruelty
