Local News
NSPCA welcomes farmer's sentence─── DANE DANE 13:04 Wed, 26 Jun 2013
Dane Beisheim
Potchefstroom - A North West court has delivered a groundbreaking ruling regarding an animal cruelty case against a local farmer.
Magistrate Steyn Fourie found Derick van Wyk guilty of animal cruelty and sentenced him to one year imprisonment or a fine of R30 000.
The NSPCA's Jaco Pieterse says this is the harshest sentence in relation to animal cruelty ever handed down in a South African court.
Fourie also ordered that Van Wyk reimburse the NSPCA within 30 days for costs incurred during its investigation of the case.
Earlier this year the NSPCA received complaints about starving cattle on a farm in Groot Marico. Approximately 600 head of cattle were found on the property, of which more than half were emaciated. Pieterse says four animals had to be put down.
Potchefstroom - A North West court has delivered a groundbreaking ruling regarding an animal cruelty case against a local farmer.
Magistrate Steyn Fourie found Derick van Wyk guilty of animal cruelty and sentenced him to one year imprisonment or a fine of R30 000.
The NSPCA's Jaco Pieterse says this is the harshest sentence in relation to animal cruelty ever handed down in a South African court.
Fourie also ordered that Van Wyk reimburse the NSPCA within 30 days for costs incurred during its investigation of the case.
Earlier this year the NSPCA received complaints about starving cattle on a farm in Groot Marico. Approximately 600 head of cattle were found on the property, of which more than half were emaciated. Pieterse says four animals had to be put down.
