A Co Clare farmer received a four-month jail term at Ennis District Court yesterday after allowing two animals in his care to die of starvation.
Imposing sentence on Brendan Murphy (46), of Derryasna, O'Briensbridge, Co Clare, Judge Albert O'Dea said he had let the animals die in the most cruel, miserable fashion.
He said that in any civilised society the crime described by the veterinary surgeon to the court at a previous hearing deserved a custodial sentence. Judge O'Dea told the court the animals had died of starvation and that evidence suggested Murphy had not fed the animals for three weeks in March.
Murphy was charged under Section 4 (1) of the Protection of Animals Kept for Farming Purposes Act, 1984, with failing, at intervals sufficient to avoid having animals under his control being caused unnecessary suffering, to thoroughly inspect the animals' condition, state of health or cause of their condition at Granaghan, Newmarket-on-Fergus.
Murphy was also charged that without reasonable excuse on March 4th he permitted the carcasses of livestock to remain unburied in a field at the same location.
In evidence, Sgt Gerry Reidy told the court that when he went to Murphy's farm with a vet on March 4th he found the carcasses of a cow and a horse.
He said there was evidence that the animals had been towed to the place, where he found a rope tied around them.
Sgt Reidy said the animals remained unburied when he returned to the farm on March 17th and he and a vet found a cow near death, which the vet relieved of its suffering.
He said the cow had freshly calved, but there was no sign of the calf, adding that when he looked for the cow's tag, he found that the animal's ear had been severed with a knife.
Sgt Reidy added that a number of other animals on the farm were in poor condition and that the local branch of the IFA was called in to provide feed for the animals.
He said: "There was no sign of feed. There was no sign of anyone on the farm."
However, in evidence, Murphy, who pleaded guilty to both charges, told the court: "I love my animals and I want to mind them. I have tried to do my best in very, very difficult circumstances."
The court heard that Murphy took over the running of the farm in January after the death of his brother. He denied ownership of the farm.
He told the court that he spent over £11,000 on feed for both animals on his own farm and animals on his brother's farm last winter and produced receipts from suppliers.
Murphy said he used to make a 52-mile round trip to the farm every day to deliver feed to the animals.
He added that it had been an extremely bad spring and bad summer for farming. He had had the animals dosed, but there were still traces of liver fluke. He accepted that the fodder provided was not good enough.
Asked to explain the cow's severed ear, Murphy said: "I went there every evening for two hours. Anything could have happened when I wasn't there."
Mr Aeneas McCarthy, solicitor for the accused, told the court that Murphy took over the running of the farm after the death of his brother last January, without any obligation to do so, but had done his best.
Mr McCarthy produced a medical certificate to the court which outlined the stress Murphy had endured. The court also heard that the farm has since been sold on foot of a court order.
However, Judge O'Dea said that in relation to the cruelty to animals charge he would impose a four-month jail term, while he imposed a £500 fine for permitting the carcasses to remain unburied.
He fixed surety at £4,000 in the event of an appeal.