Two men were fined on Friday for keeping animals in miserable condition in a farm in Xghajra.

The animal cruelty was discovered three years ago during an inspection of the rundown farm by animal welfare officers.

Stephen Garzia, 39, the farm owner, together with his friend Matthew Vella, 31, the owner of one of the horses on the farm, were declared guilty after the court concluded that they were ‘not credible’ since they ‘persisted in denying the obvious.’

The animal welfare inspectors had come across five horses, three dogs and some chickens, all kept in miserable and inadequate conditions which amounted to ill-treatment, the court was told. 

A vet certified that one of the horses, kept in dark, dirty sheds lacking adequate ventilation, had a large wound on one of its legs. This wound, compatible to a burn, appeared to be a week-old and was still untreated.

One of the dogs bore wounds on its back, another was covered in flies while the third could barely stand upright. None of the animals was registered or microchipped.

Moreover, the whole place was in a rundown state and almost falling to pieces.

The farm owner insisted that the horse had not suffered any burns but had been injured when taking part in races in Gozo. It had been transferred to his farm where his wife could treat the animal’s wound.

However, Magistrate Doreen Clarke declared that the accused were not credible.

The court concluded that it could rest on the evidence given by the prosecution’s witnesses who had all confirmed that the horse’s wound was compatible to a burn and had attested to the bad state in which the animals had been kept.

Worse still, the accused had not even called in a vet when the horse was injured, but, even in court, “persisted in denying the obvious.” 

The magistrate imposed a €3,000 fine upon the farm owner and a €1,500 fine on his friend, the alleged owner of the injured horse.