Footage of man allegedly performing sex act on pig should be deemed inadmissible, court hears

The court heard footage of a man allegedly performing a sexual act on a pig should be deemed inadmissible because it was obtained illegally.

Bradley O’Reilly, 30, of Carag Carag in northern Victoria, is facing bestiality charges after footage of him allegedly performing the act was provided to police earlier this year.

The footage was obtained from Midland Bacon’s Carag Carah pig farm after animal activists from the Farm Transparency Project entered the site and installed hidden cameras in February.

Activists then passed the footage to police, who charged Mr O’Reilly with bestiality in March.

Mr O’Reilly appeared before Echuca Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday with his lawyer, Douglas Shirrefs, arguing that the footage should not be considered by the court.

“This is illegally obtained video footage and numerous confessions have been received regarding the illegally obtained footage,” he said.

“In addition, images from images taken illegally were also presented.”

Mr Shirrefs also argued that Wednesday’s hearings should have been held in closed court because of concerns about the risk of bias and humiliation for his client.

Judge Trieu Huynh rejected this application.

“(There is) a clear presumption of fairness,” he said.

“There were reports about this case in the media before today.”

Judge Huynh said the defense and prosecution should make presentations on whether the evidence would be admissible.

“(If) the plea of inadmissibility is accepted, it essentially means that the prosecution’s case is destroyed,” he said.

The matter will return to the Bendigo Magistrates Court in June.

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