Truck used to remove stolen cattle
Queensland courts have convicted two men over what police say was one of the state’s biggest cattle theft cases in recent decades.
The case followed an investigation by Cloncurry Major and Organised Crime Squad (MOCS) into the theft of 944 heifers over a two year period in remote north west Queensland.
Earlier this week 58-year-old Capalaba man Dezso Istvan Siposwas was sentenced to two years imprisonment and paid restitution after pleading guilty in the Townsville Magistrates Court to stealing 280 head of unprocessed cattle.
That followed the sentencing on June 18 of a 36-year-old Atherton man, Brenton Butler, who was sentenced to three years and nine months imprisonment in the Cairns District Court for stealing 664 head of unprocessed cattle.
Queensland Police said Operation North Veering commenced in 2015 after a property owner made a complaint to police about missing over 600 head of cattle from a property north of Richmond in North West Queensland.
The stock were allegedly stolen between 2014 and 2015.
Cattle from the property
In January 2019 detectives from the Crime and Intelligence Command’s Cloncurry MOCS Rural arrested the 36-year-old man who was the manager of the property during the offending period. He was charged with eleven counts of stock stealing.
In March 2019 detectives from Cloncurry MOCS Rural arrested Mr Siposwas, a former of the property Woodstock, who was charged with three counts of stock stealing.
Detective Sergeant Liam Scanlan said the operation highlights the dedication and resolve of MOCS Rural detectives to hold offenders to account.
“This is one of Queensland’s largest reported cattle thefts in decades, with factors such as the timeframe between the offence and the complainant noticing the stock missing, the remoteness of the property and the various locations of witnesses all adding to the complexity of the investigation,” Detective Sergeant Scanlan said.
“What this case highlights is just how many cattle can be stolen, the impact on producers and how seriously police take this type of offending.
“It is a timely reminder to all cattle property owners to be vigilant of any suspicious activities and to report it to police as soon as possible,” Detective Sergeant Scanlan said.
Fantastic to see these low life criminals convicted. I hope this will inspire people to come forward and help the MOCS to catch some more.
Germs. Cattle thieves are the lowest type of parasite – and I apologise to the other forms of parasites.
Beef producers have enough to contend with.
Great work MOCS.
Once again the need for whole of life traceability devices, which cannot be removed with a pocket knife, is highlighted. I wonder, if buyers only paid on the owner registered against the device, we would clean up theft and NLIS integrity in one move.