Limerick farmer takes over an hour to enter 173 guilty pleas in court to animal cruelty offences

The defendant was permitted to sit while entering his plea 173 times instead of being normally required to stand in the dock

The dead calves were found as a result of a major investigation conducted by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, in September 2022. File picture: Dan Linehan

A Limerick farmer who pleaded guilty to over 170 counts of animal cruelty sat down in the dock while it took over an hour for the charges to be put to him in court and for him to reply “guilty”.

While defendants are normally required to stand in the dock when charges are put to them, the man was permitted to sit while entering his plea 173 times.