Owner cleared of starving rabbit to death

A Whangarei man accused of starving his pet rabbit to death walked free from court after the charge could not be proved.

In the Whangarei District Court Judge Greg Davis ruled the SPCA did not have evidence to prove its case against Mike Perkins, 79, during a defended hearing on Thursday. Mr Perkins was charged with wilfully ill-treating a domestic white rabbit by not providing food and water.

Outside court, Mr Perkins said the SPCA prosecution had been overzealous .

The rabbit was discovered dead in its hutch on April 28, 2009, by Richard Mason, who was contracted to mow the lawns at Mr Perkins Handley Place property in Onerahi.

In his evidence before the court, Mr Mason said he ran a lawn mowing and garden franchise and had been working at Mr Perkins' property for two years before his discovery of the dead animal.

On April 28, 2009, he had seen the rabbit dead in its hutch as he had just started trimming around a hedge.

He said there was nothing for the rabbit to eat or drink and no grass it could reach. "I was upset. I didn't know what to do."

He had contacted the SPCA after doing the lawns.

An application by Crown prosecutor Moana Jarman-Taylor to amend the charge to ill-treating by omission was rejected by Judge Davis.

SPCA Whangarei manager Francine Shields told the court that during her interview with Mr Perkins, he had been adamant thatthe rabbit had been fed pellets daily.

At the completion of the Crown case, Judge Davis questioned what evidence pointed to Mr Perkins wilfully ill-treating the rabbit.

Ms Jarman-Taylor replied that Mr Perkins would have seen the animal in its hutch, located between his house and letterbox.

But Judge Davis said there was no evidence Mr Perkins had seen the animal while going to and from his house.

He said veterinarian Dr Ross Woods had concluded the most likely cause of death was starvation.

Ms Jarman-Taylor agreed that the Crown relied upon inference evidence to prosecute Mr Perkins.

Defence lawyer Aaron Dooney intended to call an expert witness but said the judge had said there was no evidence to prove the charge.

While relieved that a long-awaited case came to an end, Mr Perkins said his honour was more important to him. "It (the case) doesn't clear my name as I would have liked. In other words, I was found not guilty as charged.

"Maybe they (SPCA) needs some training on how to take unbiased evidence," he said.

Ms Shields said the court outcome was disappointing.

She believed the rabbit had been dead for at least four days before it was discovered.