April 26, 2012
A city slicker who was looking forward to setting up his own mini-farm in the South Burnett was fined $1500 in Kingaroy Magistrates’ Court today after he admitted moving cattle without a travel permit.
Shaun Donnelly purchased the three animals from a farm near Proston and loaded them into a trailer on the back of his vehicle. He planned to take them to Nanango but he was not aware that he needed a permit to move the cattle through a tick-free area.
Along the way, the cows kicked opened the door of the trailer and escaped.
Magistrate W.A. Cridland commented that Donnelly “was having a bad day” but said the result could have been quite devastating and that a deterrent penalty was necessary.
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A Kingaroy man who pleaded guilty to one count of wilful damage after smashing the rear window of a parked car was placed on 18 months probation and ordered to perform 40 hours community service.
Police Prosecutor Sgt Nick Nitschke alleged Aaron Long damaged both tail-lights and the rear window of a cream Nissan stationwagon parked at Kingaroy Shoppingworld on March 14. A baseball bat, truncheon and steel bar were later found in his vehicle.
Counsel for Long said her client had been travelling in a car with three other people when there had been a prior altercation with a vehicle earlier in the morning. They had later run across the same vehicle parked at Shoppingworld and one of the car occupants had suggested “it would be fun to smash a window”. She said Long had problems with impulsivity and would not have acted without prompting.
Magistrate W.A. Cridland noted that Long had made full admissions and had entered an early plea. No conviction was recorded.
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James Eggleton, of Kingaroy, was fined $300 and ordered to pay $1455 (the conservation value of the reptile) after pleading guilty to keeping a protected native animal, a carpet python.
The 60cm-long python, which was being kept in a glass fish tank at Eggleton’s house in Haly Street, is now being looked after by a wildlife carer.
