A 38-YEAR-OLD Fife man who killed protected bats by hitting them with a plastic paddle escaped with a relatively lenient fine of £450 at Dunfermline Sheriff Court yesterday.

Charles Kernaghan, of Navitie Park, Ballingry, was found guilty of intentionally killing six pipistrelle bats at his home on June 29 last year.

Bats are protected in Britain by the Wildlife and Countryside Act and killing a bat can carry a fine of up to £5000.

However, Sheriff Braid took into account the fact Kernaghan was a first offender.

The sheriff said, “I’m prepared to accept the bats were causing distress and that you had previously complained about them.

“It seems to me you simply snapped on the evening in question.”

Sheriff Braid came to his guilty verdict after witnesses described in court how dead bats found near a roost in the corner of Kernaghan’s attic had open wounds.

Yesterday morning, Fife Constabulary wildlife liaison officer Mark Maylin told depute fiscal Dev Kapadia what he had found in the attic.

“There was what is best described as ‘mush’—bits that appeared to be ears and ends of wings and claws,” he said. “I can’t see any other explanation other than them having been intentionally struck with an object and killed.”

Mr Maylin said he had seen the paddle “just beside” the bat roost.

Giving evidence in his defence, Kernaghan said he had swung at the bats with the paddle while they were flying around his head.

He said, “They were coming towards me. I was ready to stand up and they started to fly about. I started to swing the paddle about just to scare them.”

Kernaghan, a tractor driver and married father of four, told the court there had been bats in the attic of his council house for the past eight years.

He told the court bats were making their way into the living areas of the house, including the kitchen, living room and his children’s bedrooms.

“My kids don’t sleep in their own bedrooms because they’re scared of the bats. They sleep in ours on the floor,” he said.

At first he contacted the countryside ranger service at Lochore Meadows but was told they “couldn’t do anything about it until the bats went away themselves.”

Referring to evidence given earlier in the trial by Scottish Natural Heritage area officer Lynn Birrell, Mr Kapadia said Kernaghan had been told about the legal implications of interfering with the bats.

“Scottish Natural Heritage told me I couldn’t shift them without a special licence,” admitted Kernaghan.

Of the factors which pointed to Kernaghan’s guilt were the extent of the bats’ injuries, blood stains on the paddle and the fact one bat was only two weeks old and unable to fly.

The court heard the bats were all found in the corner of the attic and it was unlikely injured bats scattered after being hit while in flight could have crawled back to the roost.

Bats are also incredibly agile and Mr Maylin said they would have been difficult to hit while in flight.

Before Sheriff Braid considered the penalty, defence solicitor Eva Mozolowski asked him to consider Kernaghan’s situation.

“He’s not a man of great intellect, he himself accepts that,” she said.

Before announcing the guilty verdict, Sheriff Braid said he had been “impressed” by evidence given by Mr Maylin and, at an earlier hearing, Fife Council countryside ranger Keith Cohen.

On leaving the court Mr Kernaghan said he was only trying to look after his family.