Behind bars: Former trainer jailed for starving horses to death
A FORMER racehorse trainer who starved horses to death on his Victorian property is behind bars after losing a last ditch bid at freedom.
Law & Order
Don't miss out on the headlines from Law & Order. Followed categories will be added to My News.
A FORMER Olympic wrestler who starved horses to death on his Bulla property is behind bars after losing a last- ditch bid for freedom.
Bruce Akers, 65, will spend the next six months in jail after which he must complete a 12-month community corrections order.
AAT SAYS ‘FAIR MINDED’ AUSSIES WOULD NOT WANT THUG DEPORTED
YOUTH JUSTICE SYSTEM ‘IN CRISIS’
TWO CHARGED OVER BOX HILL STABBING
TEENS ARRESTED OVER ROBBERIES ORGANISED ON SOCIAL MEDIA
An angry Akers barked “Yeah, f--- that” to his barrister upon hearing the sentence in the County Court.
He had originally been sentenced in secret last May at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court. He was given 18 months’ jail with a non-parole period of nine months, after admitting 23 charges of animal neglect.
The Herald Sun can report the outcome of his County Court appeal after contesting the court-imposed gag order.
Akers had hoped to hide his shameful neglect amid threats he would kill himself if publicly exposed. He made similar threats when police arrested him, repeatedly asking them to shoot him.
Police alleged more than a dozen horses died after Akers, also a former racehorse trainer, failed to provide food and water to them on his property northwest of Melbourne.
Three other malnourished horses, among 21 taken into care by the RSPCA, had to be euthanised.
Akers, who represented Australia at the 1972 and 1976 Olympic Games, told police he was capable of caring for the horses.
“Don’t imply that I can’t handle what I am doing,” he told them. “I’m capable of handling 60 to 70 horses at a time and caring for them.”
The County Court heard Akers continued to deny any wrongdoing when assessed by psychiatrists, and believed police had a vendetta against him. Doctors agreed he was suffering a range of mental impairments at the time of his offending in April 2016.
It was not the first time Akers had been before a court for being cruel to animals.
In June 2005 he faced Broadmeadows Magistrates’ Court on 12 charges of cruelty to horses.
They too had been starved for at least two months before they were found.
He was sentenced to six months in jail, but did not spend a day behind bars because the term was suspended for two years.
In sentencing Akers on Monday, Judge Carolene Gwynn said she took into account the additional mental assessments provided to her that were not available to the magistrate.