Two Manawatū farming brothers will have to remain behind bars after a judge dismissed their bail application earlier this week.
Richard and Geoffrey Sanson, both in their 60s, were sentenced in the Palmerston North District Court in February for the ill-treatment of sheep on their farm.
Geoffrey was sentenced to one year and 10 months in prison, while Richard was given a longer sentence of two years and two months for assaulting an animal welfare officer with his vehicle in April 2020. The brothers farmed three blocks of land – two near Kairanga and one near Bainesse – at the time.
Both appeared in Wellington’s High Court on Tuesday after they applied for bail pending their sentence appeals being heard.
Justice Helen McQueen dismissed their applications for bail, saying the farm had been massively overstocked and the animals seriously underfed.
Details of the brothers’ longstanding animal neglect on their farms, which resulted in hundreds of sheep being euthanised and thousands more suffering due to the Sansons’ ill-treatment, were revealed during their trial, with some incidents dating as far back as 2014.
