Bradley O’Reilly, 30, of Carag Carag, faced Echuca Magistrates’ Court in a contest mention on Wednesday, November 13.
He is charged with bestiality.
The prosecution alleges Mr O’Reilly had sex with a pig at Midland Bacon piggery where he worked in February.
The charge came about after animal activists from the Farm Transparency Project captured footage on illegally installed secret cameras inside the piggery in February.
The group had installed the cameras in the hope of capturing unethical practises at the piggery ahead of a Victorian Government inquiry into the state’s pig industry.
Mr O’Reilly’s barrister Douglas Shirrefs says video footage shot inside the piggery was illegally obtained, and should therefore be inadmissible in the case against Mr O’Reilly.
Before Wednesday’s contest mention, Mr Shirrefs applied to have the court closed to the media for the matter, because of embarrassment for his client.
Magistrate Trieu Huynh, however, ruled against this application and the court remained open.
A voir dire hearing — which decides on the admissibility of evidence in a case — will be held in front of a magistrate in June next year.
If the evidence is ruled as admissible, a contested hearing will be held in Bendigo Magistrates’ Court later that month, with witnesses including an activist from Farm Transparency Project to be called.
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