Greyhound trainers ditch fight to have live baiting footage thrown out
FOUR out of five Victorian greyhound trainers embroiled in the live baiting scandal have dropped attempts to have footage of them allegedly brutalising animals thrown out of court.
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FOUR Victorian greyhound trainers embroiled in the live baiting scandal have backed down in a fight to have a court throw out gruesome footage of animals being mistreated and plan to plead guilty.
But another, Dennis Dean, who also argued the secretly filmed footage was inadmissable because it was taken illegally, is fighting on.
Anthony Mills, 74, and son Stuart, 40, Darren McDonald, 47, and Lawrence Cunningham, 57, now planned to plead guilty to animal cruelty charges, Frankston Magistrates’ Court heard today.
MORE: NSW GREYHOUND RACING SHUT DOWN AFTER LIVE BAITING SCANDAL
They are accused of using live rabbits and piglets to blood greyhounds at Tooradin, southeast of Melbourne, between November 2014 and February last year.
The RSPCA charged Stuart Mills, who ran the now closed Tooradin trial track, with 35 offences; Mr Cunningham with 44, including aggravated cruelty; Mr McDonald, a two-time Australian trainer of the year whose dogs have won coveted races including three Australian Cups and two Melbourne Cups, with four offences over the use of a piglet to train dogs; and Anthony Mills with five animal cruelty offences.
None of the four would comment outside court. They will reappear on August 18.
Mr Dean faces 10 charges of animal cruelty.
In court, Mark Higgins, for Mr Dean, questioned two private investigators who filmed the footage, Gavin Wheatley and Sarah Lynch, about what steps they took to ensure they did not breach trespass laws when entering the Tooradin track in the middle of the night to install the cameras.
“I was under the impression we could enter the property under the belief criminal behaviour was going on,” Ms Lynch said.
Mr Higgins also asked what steps they took to verify that the riverbank from where they filmed, on the fence line, was public land, since it had later been determined that it was not.
Mr Wheatley said they “assumed” it was public land as it wasn’t fenced off and no signs indicated otherwise.
The court heard Animals Australia hired the pair as part of an investigation into “systemic” live baiting in the greyhound industry.
AA campaign director Lyn White, called to give evidence, defended the move, saying it was for a “legitimate purpose” and “there was no other way” to obtain the damning evidence.
Mr Dean remained stony-faced as footage, apparently showing him teasing his dogs with a live rabbit on a leash, was played in court.
The case resumes today.
Nine other accused trainers are due to appear in court on August 24.
A warrant is out for trainer Chris Connelly, who has returned to his home country of Ireland.