Greyhound trainers sentenced to prison over live baiting offences
TWO New South Wales greyhound trainers will spend time behind bars for their part in the infamous live-baiting scandal which has rocked the greyhound racing industry in 2015.
John Cauchi, the licensed manager of the Boxhill Trial Track in Western Sydney, was sentenced to 18 months jail after he pleaded guilty to using live rabbits to blood his greyhounds.
Cauchi was caught on hidden cameras using a rabbit tied to a piece of rope to excite a greyhound which he was breaking in, with the vision then shown nationwide on the ABC's Four Corners program entitled ‘Making A Killing' in February this year.
Following the revelations, Cauchi was suspended by Greyhound Racing NSW Stewards, with the inquiry yet to be completed.
Cauchi's brother Tony also pleaded guilty for his involvement in the scandal, with the duo facing a combined 15 counts of serious animal cruelty and live baiting offences.
Tony was also sentenced to 18 months in prison, but his sentence was suspended due to his intellectual impairment.
Sydney trainer Ian Morgan has been given a 12 month sentence after pleading guilty to an act of animal cruelty, with a nine month non-parol period.
Morgan was captured on camera using a live possum attached to a lure to blood two of his greyhounds at the property of Zeke Kadir.
Cameras showed Morgan delivering the possum to Kadir's Londonderry property which was, at the time, a prominent break in centre, before releasing it from its cage in his car and handing it over to Kadir.
The possum was then seen struggling to escape on the lure as two muzzled greyhounds attempt to attack it. Four minutes later their muzzles were removed and cries from the possum can be heard as it faces its demise off-screen. Morgan is later seen removing the dead possum from one of his greyhounds.
All three men have also been banned from having contact with any animals for 20 years.