‘This is just the start’: Vegan activist’s defiant warning as he avoids jail for breaking into a farm and stealing a calf he named Theo
- James Warden, who broke into a farm and stole a calf, says ‘this is just the start’
- The calf, which they named Theodore, was taken to an animal sanctuary
- The crime was filmed on a mobile phone and clips were played in court
- Warden was handed a 12-month suspended prison sentence
A notorious vegan activist has avoided going to jail after he was found guilty of stealing a $1500 calf from a farm in Western Australia, but says ‘this is just the start’.
Direct Action Everywhere ringleader James Warden, 25, and Arkadiusz Swiebodzinski, 26, stood trial in Perth Magistrates Court, accused of breaking into White Rocks dairy farm in Brunswick and stealing an 11-day-old calf in October 2018.
The court heard Swiebodzinski drove the car, then Warden and Mihaela Herceg, who previously pleaded guilty, took the calf from an unlocked shed.
James Warden, 25, broke into a farm and stole a calf (pictured) and named it Theo
The calf, which they named Theodore, was taken to animal sanctuary Greener Pastures in Waroona but authorities later returned it to the farm.
The crime was filmed on a mobile phone and clips were played in court, including one showing Warden slinging the animal over his shoulders.
On Tuesday, Swiebodzinski was fined $5000 for his role.
Warden was handed a 12-month suspended prison sentence for the crime, as well as for separately trespassing on a Pinjarra piggery and stealing a dead piglet, which he later displayed at a protest.
‘By no means does this mean that animal rights activists are going to stop what we’re doing,’ Warden told reporters outside court.
‘This is just the start of the Right to Rescue campaign, so you’re going to be hearing a lot more about that.’
Warden was handed a 12-month suspended prison sentence for the crime
On the first day of their trial on Sunday, Warden and Swiebodzinski posted a video on Facebook.
‘What’s happening today is Arkadiusz and I are in the courts facing multiple counts of aggravated burglary, stealing and trespass, which accumulates to about 54 years prison for myself and 21 years for Arkaduisz,’ Warden said.
‘It’s important for animal rights activist to express their willfulness for the right to rescue.’
Swiebodzinski added: ‘And no regression, we will continue. We are not sorry, we will not change – the system will change. We won’t be changing.’