A Queensland horse trader has been handed a suspended jail sentence and banned from owning horses and dogs after admitting to seriously neglecting animals at a south-east Queensland property.
Samuel James Fuller pleaded guilty in Ipswich Magistrates Court to 35 animal welfare offences committed between November 2023 and March 2025, including while on bail.
The offences included 26 counts of breach of duty of care, eight counts of breach of duty of care causing prolonged suffering, and one count of breach of duty of care causing serious disability.
The Department of Primary Industries said the most serious offence involved a horse with a significant untreated leg injury that later had to put down.
The offending primarily involved horses, but also included dogs.
Twenty-one horses were also euthanized due to their condition, seven were seized, and 11 others were the subject of animal welfare directions.
In sentencing, Magistrate Ganasan said it was “quite distressing” to read the details of the charges against Mr Fuller.
“The photographs are indicative of [significant suffering], and I am certain that the defendant would have recognised it in the cold light of day looking at it that it is – that we do not need to be experts to know that an animal is suffering,” Her Honour said.
Fuller was sentenced to nine months’ jail, wholly suspended for two years, and placed on two years’ probation with special conditions aimed at addressing his mental health and behavior towards animals.
He was also ordered to pay $4,250 in legal costs, and banned from owning horses for 10 years and dogs for three years.
