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Case #12448 Rating: 4.3 out of 5
Farmed animal neglect, some found dead
Bardister, Walls, SC (UK)Incident Date: Wednesday, Feb 28, 2007
Disposition: Convicted
Case Images: 1 files available
Defendants/Suspects:
» Colin Robertson
» Tommy Jamieson
Case Updates: 1 update(s) available
A Shetland crofter has been banned from keeping animals for 10 years after admitting a horrifying catalogue of abuse, at Lerwick Sheriff Court yesterday (Wednesday).
A fellow crofter and former shop manager was warned he could go to prison for cruelty to Shetland ponies, but his case has been deferred for a month for him to prove he can look after animals properly.
Colin Robertson, aged 47, admitted seven charges of cruelty at his croft in Bardister, Walls, on 28 February. The local SSPCA inspector described it as the worst case of animal cruelty he had seen in Shetland.
When inspector Ron Patterson and environmental health officers turned up at Robertson's croft after an anonymous tip off they found nine breeding cows, one young cow and a limousine bull tied up without feed or water. All were extremely thin.
Procurator fiscal Duncan Mackenzie said dung was piled up everywhere in the byre and when the officers looked closer they found two dead calves hidden in the dung.
Behind the byre they found two sheep which were in such poor condition they had to be put down immediately. Another building contained a pen with 13 lambs being kept beside a dead ewe. Another pen contained six lambs and three dead sheep.
Another 25 sheep carcasses were found on the property, and a further five sheep skeletons.
Inside Robertson's house they found a flock of hens feeding off the remains of a dead sheep. There was also a tethered ram, three puppies in a wooden crate in the kitchen and a collie dog, whose "coat was matted and covered in faeces".
Procurator fiscal Duncan Mackenzie said the dog "attempted to move towards the inspecting officers, but it fell over and was unable to rise to its feet. That dog was immediately destroyed due to its poor condition".
Defence agent Greer McRoberts said a psychologist and the local vet agreed that Robertson was unfit to keep animals, though he pointed out that this would remove his livelihood.
Sheriff Graeme Napier said the social enquiry report made "extremely sad reading". He said: "It reads like a novel from the 1920s or '30s."
The sheriff said he would be entitled to send Robertson to prison or impose a heavy fine, but would not do so because of his personal circumstances. Instead he ordered him to carry out 200 hours community service and banned him from keeping animals for 10 years.
Co-accused Tommy Jamieson, aged 43, of Lochside Cottage, Walls, admitted three charges of cruelty to Shetland ponies on 12 February and 1 March.
The SSPCA and the police initially visited Jamieson after reports that a dead pony was lying in his croft surrounded by seven other ponies, all of whom were malnourished and underweight.
A vet advised that the ponies might die unless they were immediately given a supplementary diet.
A few weeks later on 1 March the SSPCA were called about a pony that had been collected from Jamieson.
The procurator fiscal said the pony, called Judith, was emaciated, infested with lice, unable to keep her balance and patches of skin and hair were dropping off her.
Defence agent Tommy Allen admitted Jamieson had not been looking after his ponies properly, but he said Judith had been given out on permanent loan and she had recovered enough to be shown at local agricultural shows this summer.
Mr Allan said Jamieson's family had looked after Shetland ponies for three generations and pleaded for him to be allowed to keep five to maintain the bloodline stretching back to his grandfather's day.
He also told the court that Jamieson had been sacked from his job managing the Lerwick Hydro Electric shop as a direct result of the case.
Sheriff Graeme Napier warned Jamieson he could send him to prison, but deferred sentence until 7 November to find out how he would look after the five ponies in question if the court allowed him to.
Case UpdatesAnimal cruelty inspectors found eight emaciated Shetland ponies when they raided a remote croft on the Shetland Islands.
One of the animals was so badly nourished and infested with lice that she was unable to stand, and patches of skin and hair were falling off her body.
The catalogue of cruelty was described at Lerwick Sheriff Court yesterday when owner Tommy Jamieson, a 43-year-old crofter, was banned from keeping horses and ponies for five years, after he pleaded guilty to three charges of animal cruelty.
Jamieson, of Lochside Cottage, Walls, admitted causing unnecessary suffering to eight Shetland ponies which were left starving at his island croft.
The court was told that on 12 February seven ponies had been found at a near-by croft at Elvister, Walls, in a field where another pony was already lying dead.
Two weeks later, on 1 March, another pony called Judith was removed from Jamieson's croft. She was emaciated, infested with lice, and unable to keep her balance. The pony had since been taken to another croft where she had been nursed back to health.
Yesterday Jamieson asked the court to allow him to keep five ponies - four mares and a stallion - to maintain his family's pony breeding tradition which stretched back three generations.
However, Sheriff Graeme Napier ordered Jamieson to be disqualified from keeping horses or ponies for five years and sentenced him to 240 hours community service.
Sheriff Napier said Jamieson had shown "a wanton disregard" for the ponies' health.
Ron Patterson, the local inspector for the SSPCA, said: "I am delighted Mr Jamieson has been banned, bearing in mind the state of the animal I found in March, and the work that went into keeping that pony alive.
"When we visited the pony it was probably one of the thinnest I have ever seen in my life. It was thin to the point of emaciation." | Source: Scotsman.Com - Nov 8, 2007
Update posted on Nov 7, 2007 - 11:46PM |
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