Mr Rearden told the court the Caseys had steadfastly refused to co-operate with Department officials on several occasions over several months and on one occasion when he asked Casey Jnr to tell him where some cattle were, the defendant replied: “Go find them.”
On another occasion, Casey Jnr submitted forged garda documentation to the Department, relating to false reports of three animals going missing to avoid having to produce the animals for inspection. They also had to use DNA testing to identify another five animals while they were unable to identify one animal.
Defence solicitor, Padraig O’Connell said that the Caseys were “old style farmers for whom officialdom was like the proverbial red rag to a bull” and while they had clearly failed to co-operate with the Department of Agriculture officials for several months, once the matter came to court, they had co-operated fully.