Ex-teacher filmed hitting pony in face not guilty of animal cruelty | UK News

A former primary school teacher has been cleared of causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal after she was filmed slapping a horse’s face.

Sarah Moulds was found not guilty of the animal cruelty offence by a jury at Lincoln Crown Court this afternoon.

She lost her job as a teacher a month after she was captured on camera kicking and striking her grey pony named Bruce Almighty on November 6 2021.

The three-day trial was prosecuted by the RSPCA, who had sent an inspector to interview Moulds less than three weeks after the incident.

It took just over five hours of deliberations for the jury to decide to clear the 39-year-old.

The court had heard that Moulds had made ‘minimal contact’ with the horse, who she still owns, and that there were no signs of external or internal injury following the incident, which took place in The Drift, Gunby, Lincolnshire.

Moulds, and several friends and family who have supported her throughout proceedings, wept as the verdict was delivered.

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