Spirit of Tasmania operator TT-Line to face charges over polo pony deaths after notice to review is dismissed by Chief Justice

It is in the public interest the charges against the operator of the Spirit of Tasmania relating to the deaths of ponies in 2018 be heard and determined “with as little further delay as possible,” the state’s top judge has said.

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THE Spirit of Tasmania’s operator has failed to convince the state’s top judge it should not be criminally responsible – or even charged – for the suffocation deaths of 16 horses it carried across the Bass Strait.

Last month, TT-Line’s lawyer Robert Taylor appeared in the Supreme Court of Tasmania after lodging a motion to review the charges laid by Biosecurity Tasmania.

TT-Line has pleaded not guilty 29 animal welfare charges, including allegations the liner didn’t provide adequate air flow for the polo ponies during a voyage from Devonport to Victoria in January 2018.

Mr Taylor argued before Chief Justice Alan Blow that the Australian Animal Welfare land transport regulations, which sets out specific requirements for vehicles transporting animals, applied to drivers of a vehicle – not the master of a vessel.

He also said the regulations were limited to land transport and explicitly concerned drivers of vehicles.

But, Crown Prosecutor Simon Nicholson had said the regulations did not exclusively apply to drivers, but to anyone transporting a horse.

He said the alleged animal welfare breach concerned the way the horses were transported in a container, which was the responsibility of not only the drivers but also the company operating the vessel.

Chief Justice Blow handed down his judgment on Monday afternoon and found the submissions by TT-Line’s counsel were “devoid of merit.”

“The hearing before the learned magistrate has been delayed by months as a result of unmeritorious arguments and a motion for the review of rulings that were plainly correct,” he wrote.

“It is in the public interest that the charges in the Magistrates Court be heard and determined with as little further delay as possible.”

TT-Line was also ordered to pay the costs of the proceedings for both parties.

Last November, TT-Line pleaded not guilty in the Burnie Magistrates Court to one count of using a management method likely to result in unreasonable and unjustifiable pain and suffering, and 28 counts of failing to ensure the creatures were individually stalled.

The Spirit of Tasmania. (Photo by William WEST / AFP)

The month prior, Andrew Williams – who owned seven of the horses – pleaded not guilty to one count of using a method likely to result in pain and suffering, and 16 counts of failing to ensure the horses were individually stalled.

Fellow horse truck driver Thomas Martin also pleaded not guilty, denying 12 counts of failing to ensure the horses were individually stalled.

Mr Williams – a former World Cup polo player – found the animals dead when he opened the float he was driving at a property in regional Victoria.

They had just competed at the annual Barnbougle Polo Tournament.

In separate proceedings, Mr Williams, his company Willo Polo and his employer Twynam Agricultural Group, are also suing TT-Line for negligence, claiming $739,000 in losses through the Supreme Court of Victoria.