Two guilty of stealing meat off live cow as animal cruelty cases collapse

A LIVE cow had its leg and backstrap hacked off by wannabe amateur butchers at a cattle yard outside of Darwin, a court has heard

A Brahman cow had its leg and backstrap hacked off but animal cruelty prosecutions have collapsed

A LIVE cow had its leg and backstrap hacked off by wannabe amateur butchers, at a cattle yard outside of Darwin, a court has heard.

Four people — Glen Spack Petherick, 46, Roy Young, 25, Angela Wood, 24, and Anthony Spencer, 34, were originally charged with aggravated animal cruelty, trespass and stealing over the incident.

Wood on Tuesday struck a plea deal and the animal cruelty charge she was facing was withdrawn in exchange for her pleading guilty to trespass and stealing.

Glen Spack Petherick leaves Darwin Local Court. NT Police charged him with aggravated animal cruelty outside the six-month time limit and the charge was dismissed

The stealing charge related to “the rear left leg of a Brahman cow, the property of the Australian Agricultural Company” on July 20 last year.

Prosecutor James O’Brien said Wood was asleep in the back of a Toyota LandCruiser when it first pulled in to a feedlot at Rakula, where the cow was knocked out with an axe and it’s front leg and backstrap hacked off.

The distressed animal later came-to and a distressed nearby pastoralist shot it in the head.

One of the pastoralists, John Stafford, told police he had never witnessed such cruelty to a defenceless animal.

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The court heard the four-wheel-drive returned to the scene, with Young, the front seat passenger yelling “I want meat, I want meat” before one of the now-dead cow’s back legs was chopped off.

Young has previously pleaded guilty to stealing, also in exchange for the animal cruelty charge being dropped.

Roy Young was sentenced to two months jail for trespassing and stealing meat which was hacked off a live cow. Picture: Supplied/Facebook

Judge Elisabeth Armitage, in sentencing Wood to two months jail, said: “The circumstances of this stealing are very different than the normal stealing that comes before this court.”

The case against Mr Petherick collapsed completely on Tuesday when it emerged police did not charge him with animal cruelty within the six-month time limit.

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Mr O’Brien also withdrew the stealing and trespass charges against Mr Petherick.

Spencer returns to court later this month.