Calf abuser was fearful of job
A man accused of horrific abuse of bobby calves which was caught on camera has been sentenced to home detention.
Footage showed Noel Piraka Erickson, 39, hanging a calf up on a hook before it was fully dead, killing calves in a way that meant they suffered unnecessarily and driving one into a concrete floor, among other abuse.
Judge Merelina Burnett sentenced Erickson to ten months home detention and 200 hours of community work when he appeared in the Huntly District Court on Tuesday.
He had earlier pleaded guilty to 10 charges relating to animal cruelty – seven of them representative.
Erickson’s behaviour was captured on hidden cameras installed at north Waikato slaughterhouse Down Cow Limited by animal rights group Farmwatch.
Some of the footage was shown on a televised Sunday programme and the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) started an investigation.
Erickson, a casual worker at the slaughterhouse, didn’t want to stun calves with a club, his defence lawyer Ian Todd said.
‘‘As [Erickson] said to me initially, he didn’t want to do it but he was conscious of the fact that he had a family to provide for.’’
That was particularly important to Erickson because he has a wife and four-year-old daughter and had been unemployed and caring for sick family members before getting the job at Down Cow, Todd said.
Erickson had been put in a position he shouldn’t have been in, Todd said, and had inadequate training and supervision.
He accepts what he did was wrong but felt at the time that he was obliged to do it ‘‘no matter how distasteful it was to him’’.
Erickson should have known what he was doing was cruel, MPI senior prosecutor Kevin Herlihy said.
A summary of facts says Erickson was told by his manager to stun calves using blunt force trauma if he felt safer doing it that way, and the manager later said in an interview that Erickson ‘‘did not want to use the club at all’’.
But only one of the 10 charges against Erickson related to the stunning of calves, Herlihy said.
There were issues around the suitability of Erickson’s training and supervision but it shouldn’t excuse his behaviour, he said.
‘‘The defendant must have or ought to have known when committing these acts that it was wrong, unnecessary . . . and outside the bounds of any job description.’’
Erickson was working with vulnerable animals which were ‘‘effectively newborn’’, Judge Burnett said. The scale of his offending and the fact it was repeated – albeit over a short period – made it more serious.
So her sentence started at the three-year mark but she gave Erickson a discount because of the inadequate training and supervision and his guilty plea.
If he agrees to do 100 extra hours of community work, taking the total to 300 hours, he can deduct an extra month from his home detention. He is also forbidden to own an animal for the next three years.
Supporters declined to comment outside court.
MPI was disappointed the case occurred, compliance operations manager Garry Orr said.
‘‘We’re talking about a significant number of young calves that were subject to significant cruelty, they suffered intense pain, and that was totally unnecessary.’’
‘‘The vast majority of those working in this sector are responsible . . . This is an aberration.’’