Truck driver Matthew Gray’s animal cruelty shocks courtroom

A Geelong magistrate was left horrified by a truck driver who threw sheep to “pain and suffering”.

Sheep being loaded on trucks bound for port. Picture: Philip Gostelow.

A truck driver who threw sheep from an almost three metre height and left them to suffer in a pile has horrified a Geelong magistrate.

Victorian truck driver Matthew Gray, 43, had transported 445 sheep from Adelaide to a Corio abattoir overnight in February 2021 when the gruesome animal cruelty occurred.

Gray was responsible for unloading the sheep into pens at the abattoir, but found six of the sheep were sick and could not move.

The court heard Gray asked a staff member for help but he had “f---ed off” to take a cigarette break.

Gray threw the sheep from the top level of the truck.

He pleaded guilty to the animal cruelty charges in the Geelong Magistrates Court on Wednesday.

Magistrate Ann McGarvie was shown footage of the incident but asked to have it shut off after watching the first sheep be thrown a distance of 2.7 metres, telling the court it “made her sick”.

Many observers left the courtroom after Ms McGarvie warned them footage may be shown of the sheep being thrown.

A staff member, who was alerted to the “pile” of sheep, worked quickly to euthanise them “as the sheep were suffering”.

Gray told the staff he had a “really s--- day and a long drive”.

“I know you had a crappy day and it was hot … but I could only watch one because I felt sick just seeing the first sheep be dropped clearly to pain and suffering,” Ms McGarvie said.

Lawyer Simon Northeast said Gray had been transporting livestock for four years but had been stood down when the animal cruelty charges were laid.

“He admits it was wrong, he did the wrong thing, he’s full of remorse, he’s ashamed. What he should have done is waited for the staff at the abattoir to come onto the truck,” Mr Northeast said.

Prosecution said his four years in the field made the offending an “aggravating factor” because he was “aware of the correct process”.

Gray was convicted and fined $3500.

“They’ve got no defences whatsoever. There’s nothing they could have done to stop you from throwing them off the truck,” Ms McGarvie said during sentencing remarks.

“They were already so badly treated (like) unfortunately many livestock animals are.

“If people knew how badly some of our livestock animals are treated, everyone would be a vegetarian.”

Originally published as Truck driver Matthew Gray’s animal cruelty shocks courtroom