Alexander Troy Morris pleads guilty in Roma Magistrates Court to unlawfully shooting farmer’s goats

A Maranoa farmer woke up to a grisly discovery after finding three dead goats with bullet holes in their heads. Now the man responsible has faced court.

In December 2021, a Mungallala farmer was performing her usual morning walk through her property when she stumbled across a gruesome discovery.

After coming across three goat carcasses lying in a paddock with bullet holes in their heads, Roma Magistrates Court was told upon further investigation she found tyre marks, disturbed soil and drag marks where goat carcasses had been dragged away.

However, it was a Facebook post that ultimately saw Alexander Troy Morris come to the attention of police as he attempted to cover up the grisly act.

In court on Tuesday the court was told Morris had killed a total of thirteen goats, with ten of the carcasses being stored in chiller boxes on a site on Billy Bob Way, Roma.

When the 24-year-old Roma man saw a Facebook post from the aggrieved farmer about the offence, Morris removed the carcasses from the chiller box to avoid prosecution.

The defendant admitted to police he knew it wasn’t Crown land, but thought because the goats weren’t tagged he had a right to hunt them.

In court Morris pleaded guilty to unlawfully shooting a farmer’s goats, however defence lawyer Laurie Parker said his client believed they were “wild goats”.

Mr Parker said a public road runs through the victim's property and there wasn’t a fence keeping the animals in, which further contributed to the incident.

Magistrate Shane Elliott said this was a poor decision on Morris’ part that has resulted in him losing work.

“In your own stupidity, this has cost your family a lot of money,” he said.

“And it will be five years before you can get your (gun) licence back.”

The former roo shooter was handed a $17,920.50 fine and ordered to pay $1784.65 in compensation, both referred to SPER. No conviction was recorded.