Pig farmer trial: €22m financial debt cited by defence

A financial hole of debt of over €22m, out of which one of the biggest pig farmers in the country would never escape, was presented by the defence as a background factor to the case which saw him jailed yesterday for 18 months for animal cruelty.

The prosecution said the unnecessary suffering endured by pigs among the 20,000 animals at Rory O’Brien’s farm at Killicane, Mitchelstown, Co Cork, was a basic management issue and not a financial one.

The key witness for the prosecution at yesterday’s sentencing hearing at Cork Circuit Criminal Court was Department of Agriculture inspector John McConville.