A man who was filmed savagely whipping his horse has been cleared of animal cruelty after a magistrate noted that he was acting to stop the animal from injuring an 18-month old girl. 

Mosta resident Elton Saliba, 37, had been charged after the video footage of the beating went viral on social media.

The incident was brought to the fore last December by international NGO People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta), which uploaded the YouTube video to its website, showing a man whipping a horse.

The footage was also sent to the police for investigation. The incident happened in May 2014 at the stables in Maghtab. 

Magistrate Audrey Demicoli heard how the man from the outset told the police he was worried the animal would hurt the toddler, so used the whip to control the horse until the child's father arrived.

Rennie Zammit, the child's father, told the court that he was speaking to Mr Saliba outside the stable when his child ran off and entered the stable next to the horse. He said Mr Saliba's immediate reaction was to stop the horse from biting his daughter's head. 

The court also heard Mr Saliba explain how it was his former Ukrainian girlfriend who recorded the footage and posted on the internet. He said she was angry at him for refusing to marry her and as a result she had to leave Malta. 

In her considerations, the magistrate noted that the court failed to see that Mr Saliba had the criminal intention to injure or hurt the horse when he whipped it to stop it from injuring a toddler.

The magistrate said the court had no reason to doubt that this was the reason why the whipping had taken place. 

Apart from this, the magistrate ruled that the prosecution had failed to prove that Mr Saliba had caused any suffering to the horse. She said the video used as evidence in this case was so short that none of the experts could determine whether the horse had suffered.

Moreover, no evidence was brought to prove any injuries the horse had sustained and the whip used by Mr Saliba was a thin rope usually used to correct horses.

The magistrate therefore cleared him of all the charges brought against him. 

Police inspector Nicholas Vella prosecuted while lawyers Franco Debono and Amadeus Cachia appeared for the man.