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A 39-year-old primary school teacher has been found not guilty of animal cruelty after footage shows her punching and kicking a horse.
Sarah Molds was found not guilty of causing unnecessary suffering
She was filmed beating the animal on November 6, 2021 and lost her job
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A former teacher who was filmed kicking and slapping a horse has been cleared of an animal cruelty charge.
Sarah Molds has been found not guilty of causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal, a gray pony she owned and named Bruce.
She was filmed beating the animal on November 6, 2021 and lost her job as an elementary school teacher a month later.
After a three-day trial at Lincoln Crown Court, the jury of 11 men and one woman cleared the 39-year-old after just over five hours of deliberation.
Moulds, along with several friends and family members who supported her throughout the proceedings, cried when the verdict was delivered.
After a three-day trial at Lincoln Crown Court, the jury of 11 men and one woman cleared the 39-year-old after just over five hours of deliberation.
Thanking the jury for their service, engraver Graham Huston said: “Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much. I know it was not an easy case, no case is easy, but some cases are harder than others.
“What is evident is that you have given the utmost attention to this matter and have conducted your deliberations with care and thoroughness and for that I am very grateful.”
The jury heard that Molds had owned the horse, a child pony, for two and a half years when they joined the Cottesmore Hunt, one of Britain’s oldest foxhound packs at the time of the incident.
Molds had said the horse unexpectedly ‘took off’ as the horses were being untied, which saw him ‘go merry’ for 25-30 yards down the road at The Drift, Gunby, Lincolnshire.
As Bruce returned to his horse box, a hunting saboteur filmed Molds kicking the horse in the chest and slapped him four times in the face before dragging him back to a horse box.
Prosecutor Hazel Stevens said Bruce was “immediately reprimanded” for his misbehavior and “suffered physically and mentally” from Molds’ “unnecessary and counterproductive” actions.
Molds has denied the charges and maintains that his actions were “proportionate”.
Heartbreaking video footage showed Molds kicking the horse
Molds was later sacked from his teaching job in Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, and prosecuted by the RSPCA under the Animal Welfare Act 2006.
An equine vet who testified in court said Bruce demonstrated fear in the video, which the Crown said amounted to suffering at the hands of Moulds.
But the vet admitted there were no signs of an external injury on Bruce and the internal injuries could only have been confirmed if an autopsy had been carried out.
Bruce was taken to a vet 10 days after the incident and was found to be “very healthy” and still leads a “wonderfully idyllic life” with Molds in Somerby, Melton Mowbray.
Testifying, Molds said she and her children had received death threats and that her life had been “ripped to pieces as a result of that four-second decision.”
She said she intended to ‘briefly shock’ Bruce in order to ‘quickly discipline him’ for fleeing, which she says could have had serious consequences for both Bruce and the child. who rode him.