Poisoned eagles case heading to contested hearing

Feb 14, 2023

Charged: Dorothy Sloan appeared at Shepparton Magistrates’ Court on February 14.

A hearing into the alleged destruction of birds on a Violet Town property could take longer than two weeks, a court has heard.

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Dorothy Sloan, 82, of Violet Town is facing more than 300 charges over accusations she baited and killed almost 100 birds of prey in 2019.

The charges include eight of aggravated cruelty, 97 of killing wildlife by poison and 208 of possessing protected wildlife.

They follow a Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning investigation into reports of bird carcases in an area including land owned by Ms Sloan.

The case came back before Shepparton Magistrates’ Court on February 14, two months after Magistrate Marita Altman ruled against an application by the defence to have 25 charges dropped over an invalid search warrant.

Defence barrister Charles Morgan told the court the parties seemed unable to reach a resolution and the matter looked to be heading to a contest hearing.

DELWP prosecutor Megan Tittensor suggested the hearing had the potential to run longer than two weeks.

She told the court she estimated there could be more than 15 witnesses called for the prosecution, including potential expert witnesses.

The case was adjourned for a further contest mention in March, when a date for the hearing is expected to be set.