By Cam Lucadou-Wells
THREE prominent greyhound racing identities have been disqualified for five years from owning or training racing greyhounds after pleading guilty to live-baiting at the former Tooradin Trial Track.
During the hearing Frankston magistrate Rodney Crisp said the men were “habituated to cruelty” and that referees for one of the accused had not shown any remorse for the mistreatment of the bait animals.
Stuart Mills, 40, the former owner of the track, was also ordered to perform 150 hours of community work after pleading guilty to 12 animal-cruelty charges at the Frankston Magistrates’ Court on Thursday 18 August.
Mills, who has since sold the track and moved out of his next door house, was charged with keeping a premises for the purposes of baiting or maltreating an animal.
He was also charged with aggravated cruelty to a rabbit used as live bait and other animal cruelty charges involving a live pig and multiple live rabbits being chased and attacked by greyhounds as a training technique between November 2014 and January 2015.
His father Anthony Mills, 64, was also given a 150-hour unpaid work order after pleading guilty to a live-baiting charge and an animal cruelty charge for operating a mechanical lure tethered with a live rabbit in January 2015.
Both father and son had already received life-bans from Greyhound Racing Victoria.
Former Australian trainer of the year Darren McDonald, 47, received a two-year good behaviour bond with conviction after pleading guilty to using a live pig as a greyhound lure at the track in November 2014.
McDonald is appealing what is effectively a 10-year industry ban from GRV.
The court was told that the three accused were captured in an Animals Australia covert video surveillance using cameras planted at the track and outside the premises.
The footage showed live animals harnessed to a lure and chased and mauled by greyhounds.
During a RSPCA and police search of the track, Stuart Mills at first denied live-baiting occurred before being confronted with the video footage, the court heard.
The court was shown video of Mills loading a kicking rabbit to a mechanical lure that was then chased down by a greyhound on 11 November 2014.
After the lure had done a circuit, the dog caught up and began mauling the rabbit. Its head remained twitching and its bones were exposed in its half-eaten torso.
In another instance, Mills was described as swinging a live rabbit on a lead in a large arc to entice greyhounds to attack.
He continued to hold onto the lead as a greyhound attacked it, then loaded it onto a lure for a greyhound to chase.
McDonald of Devon Meadows was filmed taking a pig out of a hessian sack and helping to load it onto a lure at the track.
The pig survived a pursuit by dogs and was put back into the sack.
McDonald’s lawyer said his client, who is afflicted by Parkinson’s disease, was remorseful for the damage done to the industry and was unlikely to work in it again.
He was reputed to care deeply for his dogs ensuring they were found homes after their racing careers were over, his lawyer said.
Magistrate Rodney Crisp noted none of McDonald’s industry referees, including a former Greyhound Racing Victoria chief executive, had stated any remorse for the bait animals.
“They just say the dogs were treated well. They didn’t talk about the rabbits or the pig.”
Mr Crisp said the accused men were long “habituated to cruelty” and was not convinced rehabilitation was a possibility.
He said he wasn’t swayed by the public uproar and opprobrium directed at the men since their actions were shown on last year’s Four Corners expose.
“General deterrence does not take a back seat to leniency and certainly doesn’t take a back seat to what’s happening in the court of public opinion.”
The magistrate said detection of the offences was difficult at the remotely-situated track, requiring efforts of “pretty gritty” volunteers to bring the men to justice.
He said the accused men had enjoyed “comfortable lives” on the back of “practices that appear to be endemic and unacceptable”.
“It has to be said the treatment of the bait animals was repugnant.
“This must have been a risk worth taking. It appears there’s no progress in the (greyhound) racing business without live baiting.”
Mr Crisp said suspended sentences for the Mills pair were the most appropriate terms but he was no longer allowed to hand them down.
As part of the three accused men’s five-year disqualification, they are still allowed to keep greyhounds as pets.
Lawrence Cunningham, a former assistant at the track facing more than 40 charges, did not appear at the hearing.
He was expected to front Frankston Magistrates’ Court with another 15 co-accused on 24 August.
RSPCA prosecutor Inspector Daniel Bode said the RSPCA and the State Government would consider the sentences and “respond shortly”.
