#MostEvil | Stephen Emsley, born c. 1969, of 43 Riddings Road, Huddersfield HD2 1HL – caught on camera as he tortured rabbits and guinea pigs
Stephen Emsley admitted two offences under the Animal Welfare Act and was convicted of a further five after a trial at Kirklees Magistrates’ Court in Huddersfield.
Emsley was witnessed by a neighbour slamming two defenceless rabbits to the ground before discarding their bodies in a bin.
He was also seen slapping another rabbit 16 times, slamming the heads of two pets into each other and forcibly plucking the hairs from a guinea pig.
The court heard that Emsley was given the responsibility of caring for 13 rabbits and four guinea pigs after his partner left him,
He was witnessed hurting some of them over a two day period in July 2017 by his neighbour Margaret Lloyd. She described how she saw him remove one of the rabbits from a hutch in the garden, slap it to the body twice and then hit it a further four times before throwing it head first into the hutch.
The same day he returned to the hutch and selected two smaller rabbits.
Andrew Davidson, prosecuting on behalf of the RSPCA, said: ‘He held a rabbit in each hand, bit one of them and then used the head of one of the rabbits to hit the other rabbit in its body.
‘Then he walked towards the hutch where he left the previous rabbit and slammed both of the rabbits’ bodies together before throwing them head first into the hutch.’
The next day Mrs Lloyd was stood in her kitchen watching TV when she heard a squealing noise coming from the garden. She looked out and saw Emsley taking hold of one of the guinea pigs and ‘repeatedly plucking hair from its back’.
Footage of the pet squealing in pain was captured by Mrs Lloyd, magistrates were told.
RSPCA inspector Catherine Byrnes described what happened as “torture” and said: “The sound of the slaps and the squeals of the guinea pig can be heard on the video shot from inside a neighbouring property.
“The incidents happened over two days in July last year. He was torturing these animals, there’s no other way to describe it.
“It was what happened to two adult rabbits found dead in a bin at his property when we attended that was most upsetting to deal with.
“One of my colleagues described the rabbits as looking as though they had burst, such was the trauma inflicted to them.
“Though Emsley denies knowing what happened to them, the horrific actions against the two rabbits described by a witness, consistent with the injuries sustained by them and accepted by the court, includes Emsley biting them, smashing them together, banging their heads together and smashing them into the ground.”
Sentencing: 20-week suspended jail term; 16-week curfew; total of £615 costs and charges. Banned from keeping animals indefinitely.