A man charged with bestiality for allegedly raping a pig appeared in Echuca Magistrates' Court on Tuesday, June 11.
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Bradley O'Reilly, who was 30 at the time of the alleged offence in February 2024, was accompanied in court by his family, who were there to support him, his barrister said.
The court previously heard that O'Reilly, who was working at Midland Bacon at Carag Carag, was captured assaulting a sow in a stall in hidden camera footage filmed by animal activists in February.
The activists, from Farm Transparency Project, claimed to have broken into the piggery and installed the cameras in an attempt to expose unethical practices in the pork industry, and had alerted police when they found the vision of the incident.
They also published a censored version of the footage on their website.
Accused also facing raft of charges relating to violent offences
O'Reilly is also facing a raft of charges relating to violent acts, which are being heard separately in the Shepparton Magistrates' Court.
These include four counts of recklessly engaging in conduct that placed a person in danger of serious injury - namely by strangulation - and five counts of unlawfully assaulting a female.
He is also accused of recklessly causing injury, wilfully damaging property, using a carriage service to menace, throwing a "missile" - specifically a pair of shoes - and unlawfully imprisoning and detaining a person.
At Echuca on Tuesday, where the bestiality matter is being heard, barrister Douglas Shirrefs asked for an adjournment in order for some mental health assessments of his client to be completed.
Magistrate Russell Kelly granted the adjournment, and extended O'Reilly's bail, ordering the matter return to court on August 6.
