Man who punched police horse while wearing only underpants and one sock avoids conviction

An Irishman sleeping off a hangover just before he punched a police horse twice while wearing only his underpants and one sock has been placed on a good behaviour bond with no conviction recorded. Colm James Keogh, 31, pleaded guilty in the Adelaide Magistrates Court to one count of disorderly behaviour over the incident in Adelaide, Australia, last December. Keogh was originally charged with ill-treating an animal and two counts of assaulting police but those charges were withdrawn.



During sentencing submissions, Keogh’s lawyer, Con O’Neill, said he had been at a Christmas party earlier in the evening at the Hilton Hotel - but “not the posh Hilton”, his lawyer said. Mr O’Neill said his client remembered getting in a taxi then finding himself in his underpants and wearing one sock, “sleeping it off”. Mr O’Neill said Keogh next remembered mounted police telling him to wake up and get dressed. He said Keogh admitted to punching a police horse and had a swollen hand in the morning. “It’s unusual and it’s bizarre even but what it wasn’t was a deliberate action by a man who’s thinking straight,” he said.

“He looks back with shame and embarrassment. He’s from a culture which loves horses.” Mr O’Neill said Keogh spent eight hours in custody and had been “humiliated by the whole experience”. He said his client was a tall and shy man - “a gentle giant” - and his actions weren’t deliberate. “Perhaps it all got out of hand,” he said. Mr O’Neill said Keogh had trouble with binge drinking but hadn’t had any alcohol since the incident. His actions were not malicious and he had “just lashed out” He said Keogh may not be granted permanent residency if he had a conviction recorded.



The police prosecutor said the incident had left police horse Viking with “no lasting impact”. Magistrate Paul Bennett said there was a need for deterrence and there was a serious aspect to the offending. “You accept that you were very intoxicated at the time,” he said. “But there’s no excuse for you in the fact that you were so intoxicated. It was in fact a shameful thing for you to do.” Mr Bennett said Keogh had been seeing a psychologist since the offending. He said there was good reason for him to suspend the sentence and imposed a 15-month good behaviour bond. He ordered Keogh pay court costs, prosecutions fees and the victims of crime levy.