The Hainaut Court of Appeal has modified a judgement made by the Hainaut Criminal Court, which originally condemned a controversial horse breeder from Ogy, a village in Wallonia, to a four-year prison sentence in connection with animal welfare offences.
Now, the suspect, Pascal Delcourt, will not face prison, and instead has recieved a suspended sentence of five years. Declourt will also be banned from owning or caring for animals for a period of five years.
Allegations of animal neglect against the controversial breeder go back over a decade. In 2009, around 50 sheep and goats were found extremely malnourished on his property, with some animals later dying as a result of starvation.
In 2012, Declourt was sentenced to a 16-month suspended prison sentence and a €1,375 in fines. The suspect would later recidivate in 2017 and was arrested. More animals in poor health were seized from his home.
Credit: Animaux en Péril
In 2019, several animal defence groups denounced one of the horses' health on Delcourt’s property in Ogy. In a photo taken by the activists, the animal appeared to be in a state of skeletal starvation and was in pain.
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The public prosecutor had asked the court to confirm Declourt’s four-year sentence, but had not requested the ban on keeping and raising animals, which had been requested by civil parties. The inclusion of the ban is welcome news to animal rights organisations.
While under the eyes of Walloon law, animal welfare offences are not the most serious of charges, Delcourt was ultimately prosecuted for forgery and use of forged documents.
