The horrified Crown Court judge told Robert James McAleeman, 55, and his son, Conor, 25, that he had pled guilty to very serious and shocking charges, and that he wished to carefully consider the sentence to be given on Tuesday, December 2. 

Robert McAlleman admitted that he was the owner of the farm where the horses were found in horrifying conditions and in terrible condition themselves. In one shed alone, 6 emaciated horses were found without food or water with a 7th up against a wall that had obviously been dead for some time. One of the six, apparently a 2 year old, was eventually put down. 

The judge likened the denials of knowledge of the conditions to the denials of the guards of the railway to Burma who allowed their prisoners to waste away into living skeletons. 

The father and son accepted pleas of guilty to 32 charges of cruelty between November 1-22, 2011. The counsel for the father said that although he accepted responsibility that he was not directly responsible as he had been in poor health. Previously, he had dealt in cattle and sheep.

Counsel for the son claimed that he had become overwhelmed with the responsibility. According to the son, he had started with trading work and show horses as a side line to his father's business. Gradually, because of his father's health issues, he moved over to commercial trading of horses and sending them to slaughter (legal in Ireland). According to Conor McAleeman, the dead animals had only been dead a couple of days prior to the arrival of police. 

Counsel for the father said that care of the animals was the responsibility of the son, but as the owner of the farm, he still had "some responsibility" for them. 

Counself for the son admitted that "(I)t became a vicious circle, and one that would have been brought to the attention of the authorities in any event."

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/facing-jail-horse-dealer-and-father-who-allowed-animals-to-starve-to-death-on-their-farm-30783120.html