TT-Line wins appeal against conviction over horse deaths

Ferry operator TT-Line has won an appeal against a guilty finding in one of the 29 charges against it over the deaths of 16 horses aboard the Spirit of Tasmania I. WHAT’S NEXT >>

Photos: File

Ferry operator TT-Line has won an appeal against a guilty finding in one of the 29 charges against it over the deaths of 16 horses aboard the Spirit of Tasmania I in January 2019.

In October last year, TT-Line was convicted by a magistrate of 28 breaches of the Animal Welfare Regulations and one count of breaching the Animal Welfare Act.

It appealed the latter charge — of using a method of management that was reasonably likely to result in unreasonable and unjustifiable pain and suffering to animals — to the Supreme Court.

TT-Line’s lawyers claimed Magistrate Leanne Topfer made errors of law in determining the charge, by holding them responsible for relying on a declaration by a transport operator that the horses had adequate ventilation.

The Full Court handed down its decision in the case in Hobart on Monday.

Justices Stephen Estcourt and Acting Justice David Porter upheld the appeal, set aside the Magistrates finding of guilt and ordered the matter be reheard by another magistrate.

Acting Justice Brian Martin dissented, saying he would allow the appeal and set the conviction aside and enter a finding of not guilty.

In his decision, Justice Estcourt said TT-Line should not be convicted of an offence of failing to take reasonable measures to prevent suffering without the magistrate having considered what those measures were.

The magistrate should have considered “whether that duty included an obligation on the applicant to itself ensure that the truck’s ventilation was suitable for the horses being transported in the circumstances they were, and to itself ensure that the truck was fitted or designed in a way that it had effective and appropriate airflow for the horses,” Justice Estcourt said.

“In my view, in failing to consider what measures might have been taken by the applicant in order to prevent the pain and suffering to the horses and then considering whether such measures were reasonable measures in all of the circumstances, her Honour erred in law.”

Justice Estcourt noted that the court was not asked to consider whether the finding of guilt was reasonably open to the magistrate, although it may well have been the case that it was not.

“In the final analysis of the hearing of the alleged offence against section seven of the Act, the only viable particular of the offence remaining at the end of the prosecution case was, in my view, in substance, the assertion that the applicant failed to carry out its own assessment of the adequacy of the ventilation and airflow in the horse compartment of the truck.

“For my part at least, I fail to see how that could, on any view, have been a reasonable measure to have been required of the applicant.”

TT-Line was fined a total of $75,000 at the conclusion of proceedings in the Magistrate’s Court in March.,

The truck’s driver, former Australian polo team captain Andrew Williams, 49, was also fined $15,000 after pleading guilty to 17 counts of breaching the Animal Welfare Act.