Venus Bay wombats to get their day in court

THE alleged massacre of up to nine wombats at Venus Bay in February this year has continued to attract the attention of animal rights activists and the national media.

In the latest round of court appearances for Tyson Delbridge, the Fish Creek teenager charged in relation to the incident, the accused man had to run the gauntlet of placard-waving protesters, with his family and supporters, as they made their way into and out of the Wonthaggi Court last Tuesday afternoon.

But it's not over.

Despite being offered the opportunity of a sentence indication by Magistrate Tony Burns, which could have resolved the matter there and then, Mr Delbridge has continued to maintain his innocence and will fight the charges at a two-day hearing at the Latrobe Valley Magistrate's Court in May next year.

The contested hearing is set down for Thursday and Friday, May 7 and 8, 2026.

However, while the court heard a harrowing account of what Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA) officials say happened on the night of February 18 this year, barrister for Tyson Delbridge, David Hancock, told the court that everything about the case and its investigation was in dispute, starting with an allegedly botched record of interview by DEECA officials and the police.

He said DEECA had so far interviewed two of the three passengers in the car with Mr Delbridge, claiming they gave conflicting accounts of what happened on the night.

He also claimed there was a lack of information in the charges levelled against his client detailing exactly where, when, which and how many wombats were allegedly killed in the incident.

Mr Delbridge is facing 20 charges, 10 alleging cruelty and 10 involving offences against protected wildlife. They include:

Charge 1: On February 18, 2025, at Venus Bay, the accused, committed an act of aggravated cruelty by committing an act or acts of cruelty on animals, namely by hitting up to nine common wombats with his vehicle, which resulted in the death of those animals, contrary to the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1986.

There are four other charges alleging "death or serious disablement", and five of inflicting "unreasonable pain and suffering" by hitting the wombats with a vehicle.

According to the summary of the alleged incident, read to the court by DEECA's Principal Prosecutor Rachel Waters, wombats are protected native wildlife in Victoria, under the Wildlife Act 1975, where it is illegal to hunt, take or destroy these animals without a licence, permit or authorisation.

Unauthorised people must not hunt wombats which includes pursue, trail, stalk, search for or drive over an animal. She said the accused did not hold a licence, permit or authority allowing him to hunt or destroy protected wildlife.

It is alleged that on the evening February 18, the accused, along with three other males, met at around 7pm at the accused's property in Fish Creek.

The group did some fox shooting on the accused's family farm and at around 9.30pm they drove in several cars to Venus Bay to go spotlighting on another property owned by the accused's family.

Once at the accused's other family property at Venus Bay, the other males got into Mr Delbridge's blue Toyota Land Cruiser and he drove them to the boat ramp at Venus Bay.

Between the hours of 9.30pm and 11.30pm it is alleged that Mr Delbridge and his three friends drove around hitting up to nine wombats with the car, in and around Venus Bay.

This allegedly included the group driving off the road at times to hit wombats, Ms Waters noting that the act of using a motor vehicle to hit wombats caused unreasonable pain or suffering to the wombats before they died.

Ms Waters also alleged that the accused did not stop to check if the wombats were still alive, to move them from the road or check if the wombats had joeys.

The harrowing scene was discovered the following morning, with a local wildlife carer describing the wombats as having injuries consistent with being struck by a vehicle, and further that one of the wombats had a joey that could not be found.

It has also been alleged that one of the wombats had grass in its mouth indicating that it was not on the road when it was struck.

Despite the incident allegedly happening on February 18, it has been disclosed that it took department officials 10 days to attend the accused man's address and inspect his Land Cruiser, on February 28.

Mr Delbridge was interviewed by police and an authorised DEECA officer on March 25.