Farmer gets suspended sentence over cruelty to animals

A farmer who was told he should not be near any living creature has been given a three-month suspended jail sentence.

Leslie Stewart (69) had been told a number of weeks ago not to keep any animals on his farm at The Thorn, Letterkenny, Co Donegal, by Judge Paul Kelly.

It followed inspections by vets and animal welfare inspectors from the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ISPCA) in which several horses and donkeys were found starving on his lands.

Several of the animals had to be put down.

Judge Kelly had warned, “I want to be sure that there are no animals on his property, I want to verify that. This man should not be near or in control of any living creature.”

He found Stewart guilty of four charges in connection with animal cruelty earlier this month.

He issued an order banning Stewart from keeping animals and ordered him to appear before Letterkenny District Court on Monday for an updated report from vets.

Animal ban

Veterinary inspector with the Department of Agriculture Desmond Lavin told the court he had called to Stewart's farm on October 19th last after Judge Kelly had put the ban on him keeping animals.

On that occasion he found five goats, one pot-bellied pig with nine piglets, three dogs and three cats.

He warned him that he was not allowed to keep animals and told him he would be returning, which he did on October 30th last.

On that day all the animals had gone, apart from three cats which Stewart said were stray animals.

Stray cats

Judge Paul Kelly said he did not want any animals on Stewart’s property and told him not to be feeding the stray cats.

He said earlier the only reason he was not sending Stewart to jail was because of his age.

He sentenced him to three months in prison on one cruelty charge but suspended the jail sentence for 12 months and took the other charges into consideration.

He also awarded the ISPCA €250 in vet fees for the removal of several ponies from Stewart’s lands at an earlier date.

And he warned Stewart’s solicitor, Kieran O’Gorman, to tell his client he risks going to jail if he keeps any more animals on his lands in future.