Bull death trial: Farmer denies animal was aggressive

A farmer on trial for manslaughter after one of his bulls allegedly killed a rambler has told a court he’d never seen any signs of aggression from the animal.


Roger Freeman was attacked along with wife Glenis on a public footpath that crossed a field farmed by Paul Waterfall in Stanford-on-Soar, Nottinghamshire.


The 63-year-old suffered horrific injuries and died at the scene after being charged and repeatedly tossed in the air by an animal, which prosecutors say was a 19-month-old Brown Swiss bull owned by Mr Waterfall named Zac.


It is claimed Mr Waterfall knew the bull was dangerous and behaved negligently by placing it in a field with a public right of way.


But the 39-year-old, giving evidence in his own defence, said he had “never had a problem” with Zac, and would have had him culled immediately if he thought he posed a threat. Mr Waterfall denies the charge of manslaughter by gross negligence.


Read also: Keeping bull in public field ‘very high risk’


Nottingham Crown Court also heard the animal that attacked Mr Freeman was described as having horns – whereas Zac did not.


Opening the case for the defence, Martin Meeke QC told the jury: “The prosecution say Paul Waterfall was negligent in allowing Zac into the field because he knew Zac was nasty and aggressive.


“He bought that animal in December 2009 and had him for 11 months. He saw and worked with him daily. Zac was not, you will hear, either nasty or aggressive. Had he been, the defendant would have hesitated to send him to slaughter.”


Mr Waterfall said neither he nor his staff had ever considered Zac unsafe to be around humans.


He told the hearing: “I have a responsibility to all the people on the farm. I have two small children, a wife, and lots and lots of visitors.”


Mr Waterfall, who farms around 162ha (400 acres) and provides milk for the Stilton cheese industry as part of a farmers’ co-operative, added that if any of his workers had expressed concerns over Zac, he would have had him destroyed.


He said he had previously sent a bull to the slaughter in 2005 after it “lost its fear of humans”.


The trial had earlier heard two incidents had taken place before the death of Mr Freeman, on 12 November 2010, in which power workers were attacked by animals “with horns” in the same field.


Mr Freeman’s wife also described the beast that attacked her husband as having horns.


But Mr Meeke asked Mr Waterfall during his examination in chief: “You told us that Zac did not have horns. If the animal that attacked Mr and Mrs Freeman had horns, could it have been Zac?”


Waterfall replied: “I do not see how.”


He told the jury that on the day Mr Freeman died, Zac was in the field with a large group of heifers. He arrived in a car after being alerted by a passing motorist that someone had been attacked, and found the herd “going mad”.


Mr Waterfall added: “They were in a panic. Frightened. Something had really upset them. I ran into the middle of the field but the heifers were on their way back. I could see there was nothing I could do for Mr Freeman so I ran out of the field. There were 62 animals heading towards me at great speed.


“They would have gone right over the top of me, especially in the dark.”


He told the jury that he wouldn’t have been able to pick Zac out of the herd, and when he was destroyed later that evening by a vet, he was “absolutely calm”, whereas the heifers were still running around excitedly.


Mr Meeke claimed that prosecutors made no enquiries as to what animals were in the field that day “until this trial”.


And Mr Waterfall said it was “impossible” to say, over three years on, which animals had been in the field that day with complete confidence.


He added: “Some heifers were considerably bigger and heavier than Zac in terms of height. In a situation in the dark when the animals were all running around it would be very hard to tell he was a bull.”


The court had earlier heard background about Mr Waterfall’s farming career.


He told how he had grown up working on his father’s farm in Stafford and had gone on to graduate from Harper Adams University in Shropshire with a degree in Agriculture and Agricultural Management before moving to Underhill Farm with his wife in May 2001.


He took over the tenancy after his uncle, who had previously farmed the land, retired.


Mr Waterfall said he had currently had around 600 cows, and used the New Zealand grazing system.


He described buying Zac at a 2009 farmers market in Cheshire for £1,050 to run with his heifers as a sweeper bull.


Mr Waterfall told the jurors: “They (Brown Swiss) were referred to as really docile. They are very, very quiet animals.”


The trial continues.



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