A man from Rhondda Cynon Taf in Wales has been disqualified from owning, keeping or transporting horses after he admitted sexually abusing horses in a prosecution brought by the RSPCA.
CCTV footage showed the 26-year-old male using an in-season mare to tease and arouse a stallion before he entered the stable and masturbated the stallion.
He is also shown inserting his fingers into the stallion’s anus and repeatedly offering his bare arm to the horse to nuzzle and mouth on.
Corey Coleman was also found guilty of charges relating to a second stallion and a bay mare.
He was handed a suspended prison sentence after he pleaded guilty to four offences under the Animal Welfare Act at Merthyr Tydfil Magistrates’ Court earlier this year (9 April).
RSPCA investigating officer Gemma Cooper described it as being “a harrowing case”.
Suspended prison sentence
Coleman also admitted to failing to meet the needs of the stallion, Benny, a colt, Bear, and a bay mare named Narla (pictured top).
The mare was in season at the time of the offences and was exposed to a risk of injury from the stallions.
Coleman was sentenced today (Wednesday 2 July) to an eight-week prison sentence suspended for 12 months.
He must also do 25 Rehabilitation Activity Requirement days and was disqualified from owning, keeping or transporting horses for five years.
Coleman was ordered to pay a £120 fine, £154 victim surcharge and a contribution of £200 to the RSPCA’s costs.
CCTV footage of the abuse
In mitigation it was heard that Coleman didn’t think he was harming the horses, but accepted after reading the vet evidence that he caused them to suffer.
Concerns were raised when Coleman was injured by one of the stallions on 27 June 2024 and was left with a broken back.
CCTV was reviewed to establish the cause of the incident. Subsequent footage showed him continuing to abuse the horses, with a broken back and whilst wearing a back brace.
The footage also showed that children had been in the vicinity at the time.
On 31 July 2024, police, the RSPCA and a vet attended the yard in the Welsh village of Tonyrefail and identified the three horses seen on the CCTV.
They were examined by a vet and were found to have sustained no physical injuries from the abuse.
‘Clear what he was doing’
A witness statement from RSPCA Inspector Keith Hogben said that there was a plastic container (pictured below) outside Benny’s stable which he was told belonged to Coleman.
“In this container was a bottle of baby lotion that was also seen in the CCTV videos, this baby lotion bottle was photographed by myself in situ,” he said in the statement.
In a vet report provided to the court, after reviewing sections of CCTV footage from 27 June, 15 July and 29 July, they said the key footage is from 15 July which shows “clearly what Mr Coleman [was] doing to the stallion”.
Vet report
The vet report said: “In this footage it is notable that Mr Coleman is using a mare who appears to be in season positioned outside the stallion’s stable to tease and arouse the stallion before he then enters the stallion’s stable and masturbates the stallion which is clearly shown on the footage.
“He is also shown inserting his fingers into the anus of the stallion.
“It is also notable that Mr Coleman repeatedly offers his bare forearm to the stallion to nuzzle and mouth on.
“The same behaviours are shown on the videos from the other two dates, but on these occasions Mr Coleman interacts with a stallion who is stabled out of the CCTV footage so whilst it is possible to observe Mr Coleman’s interactions with the mare who he positions outside the stallion’s stable it is not possible to see what interactions he is having with the stallion.
“It is however possible to see that he repeatedly offers his bare forearm to the stallion to nuzzle and mouth as he does on the footage from the 15 July.”
Sexually abusing both stallions
The vet concluded that: “It is my expert opinion that the CCTV shows Mr Coleman sexually abusing both stallions and that in doing so he has caused them both to suffer unnecessarily as shown by their aversive behaviour in moving away from him and circling around from him.”
The vet added that in his expert opinion based on the evidence supplied to him “this abuse has been conducted over a prolonged period of time as the horses were conditioned to this abuse”.
Gemma Cooper, deputy chief inspector at the RSPCA, added: “Following an examination by a vet thankfully the horses were found to be okay despite having to endure this abuse and suffering.
“We’d like to thank everyone involved in what has been a harrowing case.”
