By Liam Mannix
When police followed a "foul smell" on a property in Bulla, what they allege they found was horrifying: "Piles of dead horses".
The property was allegedly littered with horse bones and decomposing bodies. Out the back, police allege they found another horse graveyard with the bodies of 23 more horses.
While many horses on the property were allegedly starving, six to eight bags of horse feed were found in a fenced-off stable, police say. But even that would not have been enough to feed the horses on the property for a single day, police say.
Mr Bruce Akers, a 63-year-old former Olympic wrestler who competed for Australia in 1972 and 1976, was initially charged with more than 90 animal cruelty offencesafter police made the discovery on what they allege was his Bulla property on April 3 this year.
Bruce AKers, who was initially charged with more than 90 animal cruelty offences. Credit: Eddie Jim
"Don't imply that I can't handle what I am doing," he allegedly told police after he was arrested. "I'm capable of handling 60 to 70 horses at a time and caring for them quite easily."
On Monday he appeared before Magistrate John Bentley in the Broadmeadows Magistrates' Court. His lawyer told the magistrate police had provided her with an updated summary of the charges on Thursday night, and her client had not yet had time to read them. Mr Akers is yet to enter a plea.
Mr Bentley adjourned the matter until August 25. Despite the strong objections of Mr Akers' lawyer, he opted to release a summary of the prosecution's case to the media, telling her "you will have to accept that the press will report responsibly".
"It's an open court, they're entitled. I prefer accurate reporting, that's why I have released the summary," he said.
Twenty-two horses were found dead on the property and 20 others were suffering from malnutrition. Credit: Eddie Jim
"Mr Akers' lawyer indicated her client strongly contested the prosecution's version of events. During a police interview after his arrest, Mr Akers said the horses were not his but that he was trying to care for them."
During the police interview Mr Akers allegedly asked who would be paying to care for the horses now, and told police "the RSPCA wouldn't get any money out of him, that he had no money", the prosecution summary says.
He also allegedly told police that vets hadn't attended his property because "veterinarians don't have time for that sort of thing".
Police allege on April 3, around 3pm, a witness spotted horse legs dangling in the air and a foul smell coming from the Bulla property.
When police raided the property an hour later they said they found one starved horse trapped in rocks. The foul smell was allegedly coming from a pile of dead horses higher up on the property.
When the RSPCA inspected the next day they found the property full of weeds and with fences falling apart. No feed was found anywhere accessible to horses, and there was no natural feed in the paddocks, the prosecution summary says.
The RSPCA found 23 live horses on the property, 20 of them severely starved. When taken to hospital, several of the horses were unable to stand, and had to be euthanased.
The 21 remaining horses are all in the process of being rehomed, or have already been so.