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Jail sentence for animal cruelty longest in B.C. history

Conditional sentence changed to jail time after breaching conditions
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The jail sentence given to an Armstrong man for animal cruelty, then breaching conditions of his sentence, is the longest sentence related to an animal cruelty case in B.C. history.

Gary Roberts, 69, was found guilty of animal cruelty in December 2016 and was given a nine-month conditional sentence to be served at home. Roberts was also given a 20-year prohibition from owning animals.

After breaching his conditions, Roberts was ordered to serve the remainder of his sentence in jail.

“Roberts violated conditions of his sentence on March 23 and a warrant was issued for his arrest,” said B.C. SPCA senior animal protection officer Kathy Woodward. “On April 12 he was back in court and the judge handed down the strongest sentence possible, noting that Roberts had shown a blatant disregard for his court order.”

There were 16 horses seized from Robert’s property in the Armstrong area, horses so emaciated that some of them barely registered on the body conditioning scale used by veterinarians to determine normal body weight.

“Some of them were a .5 on the scale of one-to-nine and three of the horses had to be humanely euthanized because they were in critical distress,” said Woodward. The remaining horses received treatment and rehabilitation in the care of the SPCA and were re-homed.

Woodward said there are up to 30 horses remaining on Roberts’ property but arrangements have been made with his family and friends to care for or sell the animals.

Shawn Eccles, senior manager of cruelty investigations for the society, said he hopes the record jail term handed down in the case will be a deterrent for other offenders who disregard court orders in animal abuse cases.