(AU) Man cops $3000 fine for running cock fighting comp at home

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No bail on cock-fighting charge

July 24, 2007

 

FOUR mutilated roosters were put down after suffering serious injuries in a

cock-fight, a court heard yesterday.

 

The roosters - some of which had their combs cut off - were allegedly discovered

on a farm in Prestons.

 

Van Chuyen Ta is facing 12 charges relating to cock fighting.

 

Liverpool Local Court yesterday heard police and the RSPCA received a tip-off a

cock-fight was taking place at Ta's Bernera Rd property on Sunday.

 

It is alleged, when authorities arrived at 2.30pm, a number of cars were leaving

the property.

 

Magistrate Mark Shepherd refused bail due to the serious nature of the offences

and to prevent the risk of further offences.

 

Ta, a father of three, pleaded not guilty to all charges including six charges

of being in charge of an animal and failing to provide veterinary treatment and

one count of animal cruelty.

 

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,22121400-5006009,00.html

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Conviction in cockfighting case

Sydney Morning Herald

Malcolm Brown

January 15, 2008

 

POLICE and RSPCA inspectors who raided a farm that was used to run a

cockfighting ring in south-western Sydney last year saw a number of cars

departing quickly and found two seriously injured roosters thrown into bushes,

Liverpool Local Court heard yesterday.

 

The prosecutor, Sergeant Ashley Metcalfe, said there was clear evidence the

birds had been in a cockfight. " Their combs had been ripped off and they had

wounds occasioned through the use of spurs, " he said.

 

" The injuries were directly as a result of sport or spectacle. "

 

According to a police statement tendered before the magistrate, Chris O'Brien,

the police and inspectors who went to the farm on July 22 last year found a

large pen and an enclosed arena.

 

They found four injured roosters, one inside a freshly bloodstained sack, in

some bushes. Another rooster was found in a cardboard box in an area of dead

vines. The other two roosters had lost their combs.

 

The landholder, Van Chuyen Ta, was arrested and the property at Prestons

searched. It was estimated that there were more than 120 roosters in separate

enclosures of pens, and some of the enclosures did not contain water or food. A

search behind Ta's house turned up 40 to 50 more roosters and some hens.

 

RSPCA inspectors found three more roosters with their combs severed, and because

of the bleeding, it appeared to have been recent.

 

Police and inspectors found two sets of " training muffs " , used to allow roosters

to spar. They also found a set of scales, apparently used to weigh roosters

before fighting, and two timing clocks. Ta had said the fowls at his house were

his but those at the rear of his property belonged to four men, whom he named as

Tung, Lan, Suong and Duc, who had undertaken to pay him to accommodate their

birds, but he had not been paid anything for 12 months.

 

Ta initially denied any involvement in illegal activities but then pleaded

guilty to cruelty to animals, being in possession of an article used to train an

animal to fight, failing to provide veterinary treatment (four counts) and one,

as occupier of land, of failing to prevent an offence under the Cruelty to

Animals Act.

 

The fowls deemed to have been mistreated were seized by the RSPCA under the

Cruelty to Animals Act.

 

Sergeant Metcalfe said that the state of the roosters did not come from

malpractice or negligence, rather it was cruelty to animals arising " directly

out of the misuse of animals for nothing else than entertainment " .

 

Adam Ly, for Ta, told Mr O'Brien it was conceded that Ta had a long record,

comprising a number of drug-related offences, but he had not been in trouble

since 2000. Earning $20,000 a year from vegetable growing and poultry, he had

turned his life around.

 

There was no evidence Ta was directly involved in the cruelty. These were the

first offences of their kind on his record and he had made an early guilty plea.

There were not many counts of cruelty in relation to the number of birds on the

property and while cruelty to any animal was serious, he thought the community

was more intolerant of cruelty to animals such as cats and dogs.

 

Ta will be sentenced today.

 

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/conviction-in-cockfighting-case/2008/01/14/1\

200159363445.html

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Cockfighter's 'ghoulish barbarism'

Sydney Morning Herald

Malcolm Brown

January 15, 2008

 

A man who hosted a cockfighting contest has been accused of " ghoulish barbarism "

by a magistrate who punished him with hefty fines and community service.

 

Van Chuyen Ta, a 41-year-old immigrant from Vietnam, was arrested by police in

an RSPCA raid on his property at Bernera Road, Prestons, in Sydney's south-west

on July 22 last year.

 

Yesterday he pleaded guilty to eight offences under the Prevention of Cruelty to

Animals Act.

 

Today in Liverpool Central Court, magistrate Chris O'Brien fined him a total of

$3000 and ordered him to perform 70 hours of community service. He was also

ordered to pay $1560.40 to the RSPCA.

 

Earlier in evidence, police officers and RSPCA inspectors found four injured

roosters, including two that were badly hurt and apparently put into containers

and thrown in bushes in a hurry.

 

Police said a number of individuals departed rapidly in cars when the raid took

place on the property, which included a purpose-built cock-fighting arena.

 

Mr O'Brien said both Parliament and the community deplored cruelty to animals.

 

The magistrate said that if Ta had been charged under the more serious Crimes

Act he could have faced a $5500 fine or six months in jail or both.

 

He said that, while Ta had pleaded guilty and shown remorse " these offences

involve gratuitous cruelty to animals and a planned, organised criminal

activity " .

 

The offence involved cruelty to defenceless creatures.

 

" Such cruelty by its very nature diminishes our community. It is worse when it

purports to be entertainment but is nothing more than ghoulish barbarism, " he

said.

 

" Your behaviour in undertaking this course is completely unacceptable, " the

magistrate said. " If you come before the court again for a matter such as this,

you can expect a more serious penalty. "

 

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/cockfighters-ghoulish-barbarism/2008/01/15/1\

200159422691.html

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Man convicted on cockfight charges

Sydney Morning Herald

Malcolm Brown

January 16, 2008

 

A MAN whose land in south-western Sydney was used for cockfighting has been

sentenced to 70 hours of community service, fined $3000 and ordered to reimburse

the RSPCA for the cost of treating wounded birds.

 

In the Liverpool Local Court, the Magistrate, Chris O'Brien, yesterday described

the sport as " nothing more than a ghoulish barbarity " . The cruelty to the birds

" diminishes our community " , he said, and the revulsion was expressed in

legislation drawn up to deal with it.

 

Chuyen Van Ta, 41, pleaded guilty to eight charges under the NSW Cruelty to

Animals Act. These including five of failing to render veterinary help to

injured animals. Police and RSPCA inspectors raided the accused's farm at

Bernera Road, Prestons, on July 22 last year and found 120 roosters in separate

pens, a purpose-built cockfighting arena, and four badly injured roosters.

 

Ta, a father of three, was born in Vietnam and migrated to Australia in 1992. He

acquired a lengthy criminal record but this was his first offence of this kind.

 

Mr O'Brien said: " These matters involve gratuitous cruelty to animals and the

offence was a planned organised criminal activity " against " animals unable to

protect themselves " .

 

The accused had shown remorse and took responsibility for allowing his land to

be used for cockfighting. Mr O'Brien took into account the absence of evidence

that Ta was directly involved in the cockfighting.

 

He fined Ta $1500 on two charges, including being in possession of an implement

to train an animal to fight. On each of six charges of failing to provide

veterinary treatment, he sentenced Ta to 70 hours of community service, to be

served concurrently. He also ordered Ta to pay the RSPCA $1560.40.

 

Joan Papayanni, the vice-president of the World League for the Protection of

Animals, said new arrivals should be instructed on Australia's animal welfare

laws. " Some countries don't have animal welfare laws at all, " she said.

 

" Cockfighting is a cruel and horrifying sport, and in this case it does seem a

low penalty, though [Ta] does not seem to have been the main person. "

 

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/man-convicted-on-cockfight-charges/2008/01/1\

5/1200159449408.html

 

Operating a cock-fighting ring can lead to a $12,000 fine or up to a years'

jail. Of course the perpetrators never get fined the maximum and do not get sent

to jail.

 

See the last article here (dated October 12, 2006) on a big cock-fighting case

last year to see why a measly fine means nothing to those involved.

----------------------------

Man cops $3000 fine for running cock fighting comp at home

By Edith Bevin

January 16, 2008

 

A MAN who ran a cockfighting contest was yesterday fined $3000 and ordered to

perform 70 hours of community service.

 

Van Chuyen Ta, 41, of Prestons pleaded guilty in Liverpool Local Court to eight

offences under the Prevention of Cruelty Act for his role in the cockfighting

competition on his Bernera Rd property.

 

The court heard when police raided his property on July 22 last year, they found

four badly injured roosters - two of which were still bleeding when they were

stuffed into bags and boxes.

 

A further 120 roosters were found in pens - many had been deprived of food and

water and had missing combs.

 

" Offences of this type are most serious - they involve cruelty to defenceless

creatures, such activity diminishes our community . . ., " Magistrate Chris

O'Brien said.

 

" It purports to be entertainment but it is nothing more than ghoulish barbarism.

A penalty must be imposed that rams this message home loud and clear. "

 

Apart from the fines and community service order Ta was ordered to pay court

costs of more than $500, and pay the RSPCA $1560.47 for veterinary fees.

 

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,23059322-5001021,00.html

=========================================

[Other criminal activities such as drugs rings, money-laundering and illegal

weapons go hand in hand with cockfighting operations. There is big money

involved, as this Oct., 2006 article shows]

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Cockfighting cruelty uncovered

By Jamie Duncan and Danny Rose

October 12, 2006

 

MORE than 500 fighting roosters and a cockfighting pit were uncovered as a

police taskforce smashed major drug and money-laundering operations in two

states today.

 

Some of the roosters found in Melbourne, which are trained to fight to the

death, had been given performance-enhancing drugs, officials said.

 

About 100 officers launched 15 simultaneous raids across the western suburbs of

Melbourne and Sydney at 7am (AEST) today, as part of the Australian Crime

Commission's (ACC) Taskforce Gordian.

 

Nine men were arrested.

 

The raids followed a series of raids last Friday which also resulted in nine

arrests.

 

ACC National Operations General Manager Jim Duffy said three separate syndicates

involved in either drug trafficking, or money laundering, had been smashed,

including the capture of several alleged " Mr Bigs " .

 

But a massive, illegal cock fighting operation was exposed when Victoria Police

officers took RSPCA staff with them in a raid on a property at Rockbank, in

Melbourne's outer west.

 

" We have been aware that these people have been involved in cock fighting but

the true scale ... was not known until today, " Mr Duffy said in Melbourne.

 

" We were focussing on the money laundering and drug trafficking and this has

come to light as a result of targeting the drug activities. "

 

Four vehicles and $300,000 in cash were also seized.

 

RSPCA spokesman Greg Boland said the cockfighting ring was possibly the biggest

ever uncovered in Australia.

 

" It's appalling really, we've located one of the largest cockfighting rings ever

operated in Victoria, " he said.

 

" There was a very sophisticated ring out there, we've found a lot of

paraphernalia used in the training of game birds, spurs ... they actually use

drugs to enhance the performance of the birds.

 

" With this sport, and I loathe to call it a sport, the birds often fight to the

death. "

 

Operating a cock-fighting ring can lead to a $12,000 fine or up to a years'

jail.

 

The nine men arrested today also face charges of trafficking in a commercial

quantity of illicit drugs under the Commonwealth Criminal Code.

 

If convicted, they face a maximum 25 years jail.

 

" We will be alleging that the people in these syndicates, who were subject to

arrest today, were laundering money through the people arrested last week, the

money remitters, " Mr Duffy said.

 

Five men and four women were arrested last week after the ACC ordered raids on

nine properties in Sydney and 11 in Melbourne.

 

Police allegedly found about $750,000 in cash in the raids, plus guns and large

quantities of white powder, believed to be the drug ice, or crystal

methamphetamine.

 

The ACC believes the nine people arrested today were part of a crime syndicate

believed to have sent overseas $93 million in takings from drug trafficking.

 

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,20569819-5001028,00.html