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TRUST means everything in the bush. So when a neighbour and his mate stole 170 sheep from David Fife’s Junee property last July the hurt he felt was worse. “On the land you rely on your neighbours in an emergency or a fire,” Mr Fife said. One of his neighbours, 23-year-old James Thomas Flakelar, on Friday pleaded guilty in Wagga Local Court to stealing Mr Fife’s sheep. Another man, 23-year-old Blake John Cowled, also pleaded guilty to the theft. The pair also pleaded guilty to stealing two sheep lick feeders and one sheep from Senator Bill Heffernan, 92 sheep from a Sebastopol property and having sheep suspected of being stolen from a Big Springs property. They will be sentenced on August 7. Victims and their supporters, including Senator Heffernan and former federal government minister Wal Fife, packed the small courtroom’s public gallery expecting to see the two sheep duffers defend many of the charges against them. But the hearing was called off after negotiations between police and the accused men’s defence teams resulted in Cowled pleading guilty to nine charges and Flakelar admitting to 12 charges. Another 21 charges against Cowled and 15 against Flakelar were withdrawn and dismissed. After realising his sheep had been stolen on July 4, David Fife contacted police and did some sleuthing of his own. Within hours, he saw a mob of sheep he suspected was his and used binoculars to get a close look at their ear markings to confirm his suspicions. He recovered 165 sheep. Senator Heffernan reported his sheep feeders missing, but did not realise a sheep was gone until The Land newspaper published a story about sheep stealing and included a picture of an ear marking he recognised as his. The Big Springs farmer also recognised ear markings of his sheep when they were posted on the NSW Police Facebook page. Mr Fife said his advice to farmers was to identify stock with ear markings as well as the compulsory National Livestock Identification Scheme ear tags, which can be removed. The Sebastopol did not recover 78 sheep worth $11,856.

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