A JUDGE described a man and his father as worse than drug pushers when they were convicted of animal drug offences at Tullamore District Court yesterday.
Wesley Carter (22), Ballyhagan House, Carbury, Co Kildare, was fined £11,000 on nine summonses of possessing hormone implant equipment and two counts of obstructing Department of Agriculture investigators on June 25th last year.
His father, Noel Carter (54), of the same address, who farms 1,200 acres, was fined £1,000 and ordered to pay £960 in witnesses' expenses when he was convicted of obstructing the investigation.
Five summonses against Noel Carter, including two alleging possession of angel dust in August 1992, were withdrawn by the State when his lawyer, Mr Eamonn Leahy, challenged the legality of the search warrant.
Judge Tom Fitzpatrick was told at a special sitting of the court that, during the search of the Carter home, Wesley Carter had escaped with evidence collected by investigators. Mr Brian Flaherty, a veterinary officer with the Department of Agriculture, said he had gone to the Carter home on June 25th.
When he arrived with nine officers the front door was slightly open. Wesley Carter came towards him and ran into the room on his left. He followed him into the room where he had seen him bring a black plastic bag and he saw Carter attempt to break the window with the bag in his hand.
He had warned Wesley Carter he was an authorised officer and they attempted to remove the bag from him. During the struggle he was stabbed in the left hand with a hormone implant needle protruding through the bag. He said Carter and his son were very extensive beef farmers and had 1,500 fattened animals on their land at that time.
Mr Declan Holmes, a Department officer, had itemised the bag's contents: three hormone implant guns, hormone implant cartridges, a scalpel, hormone implant needles and nuts to fix them to the gun.
He said the chase of Wesley Carter had gone on for about a mile and a half, and the search for the defendant lasted about two hours, but the plastic bag was never recovered.
Mr Pat Brangan, the Department's veterinary inspector on the control team, said he had been shown the contents of the plastic bag before it was snatched.
He said the implant guns and cartridges had no use other than for implanting cattle with growth promoters and he told the judge that, depending on the drugs used, the value of an animal would increasby by £150-£250
He said none of the 50-60 animals tested for drugs on the farm had shown signs of hormone treatment.
Mr Leahy, pleading for mitigation, said neither man had any previous conviction on the date in question, but Noel Carter had been bound to the peace in relation to an incident some days later. He said this was under appeal.
There was no evidence before the court that the defendants had been using illegal drugs, and they accepted their behaviour was regrettable.
Judge Fitzpatrick said what had happened was evil and shameful and it was obvious they were motivated by sheer greed. The two defendants were obviously wealthy and substantial farmers and why they chose to engage in this type of activity was beyond comprehension.
He said it was clear this was not an isolated incident and they had carried on this activity for some time, an evil trade.
"One has to consider the effects of this crime on its victims the unsuspecting consumers of Ireland. These were people who trusted that farmers were not contaminating their cattle with illegal substances," he said.
"I have no doubt the unsuspecting public are horrified," he said.
He said one would be inclined to say that people convicted of these shameful acts should be banned from farming for their lives. He was taking into consideration that the defendants were obviously otherwise law-abiding citizens and substantial farmers.
"But the reality of the situation is that these people are worse than drug pushers. Drug pushers affect a smaller section of the community and the people affected are not unsuspecting victims," he said.
Here there was a situation where the unfortunate public did not know or realise what they were taking when they ate meat supplied by people like the defendants, the judge said.