Farm worker receives suspended sentence for striking a cow with a steel spade sixty times

A farm worker based in Aldford has received a 12-week suspended prison sentence, community service and ordered to pay prosecution costs, for causing unnecessary suffering to a cow contrary to Section 4 of the Animal Welfare Act 2006.

Pawel Turbak (37) was employed at Lea Manor Farm in Alford as a Stockman at the time of the offence and has since been dismissed.

The matter came to light when a worker on the farm noticed injuries to a cow and reported it to the dairy herd manager. CCTV was watched and it showed the defendant hitting the cow with a steel spade over sixty times, to its body and hind legs.  The blows used the flat back and sharp digging edge of the spade, causing 18 lacerations together with bruising and swelling.

The CCTV showed that the cow had become stuck between two headrails, not able to move backwards or forwards. The offence was committed as the defendant was trying to free the cow, by digging around it with a spade.

When interviewed at Blacon Police Station the defendant agreed that it was not acceptable to inflict injuries to the cow but he was working long hours and had problems at home.

At a hearing a Chester Magistrates Court on 25 November 2022, Mr Turbak was sentenced to 12 weeks imprisonment, suspended for 12 months, 100 hours unpaid community work, and ordered to pay prosecution costs totalling £1634.

Mr Turbak was also disqualified from owning or keeping animals, or any involvement in the way animals are kept, for five years.

When sentencing the judge commented how crimes like this are particularly upsetting, that this was a prolonged attack and if not for the CCTV this may well have gone unnoticed.  The judge accepted the incident was out of frustration of not being able to free the cow, rather than a specific wish to inflict pain on the animal.