Case Report: Fatal blunt injuries possibly resulting from sexual abuse of a calf 307

Fatal blunt injuries possibly resulting from sexual abuse of

a calf: a case report

Fabio De Giorgio, MD,

Matteo Polacco, MD,
Riccardo Rossi,
Maria Lodise, MD
Institute of Legal Medicine, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, School of Medicine, Rome, Italy
Juha Rainio, MD PhD
Institute of Legal Medicine, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, School of Medicine, Rome,
Italy.
Institute of Forensic Medicine, Medical School, University of Tampere, Finland

Correspondence: Fabio De Giorgio, MD, Institute of Legal Medicine, Catholic University of the
Sacred Heart, School of Medicine, Largo F. Vito, 1, 00168 Rome, Italy
Email: fdegiorgio@tiscalinet.it; fabio.degiorgio@rm.unicatt.it

ABSTRACT of the literature published in English showed

We report a case of a calf-related fatality on a farm.
The victim was a 60-year-old man who was possibly
attempting to sexually approach the animal from
behind when he was struck by it, sustaining fatal
blunt injuries, mostly to the thorax. This case is
reported because of its rarity and because of the
particular circumstances of death. Fatal trauma
associated with bovines is rare on the whole, and
when it does occur it is usually caused by kicking or
pushing during regular agricultural activity.
Although the cause of death in our case could be de-
termined, the circumstances and the manner of
death remain speculative to some degree.
no cases of fatal injuries related to calves.
CASE REPORT
At the end of June, at approximately midnight,
a 60-year-old man was found dead in his farm-
yard, in suburban Rome. The deceased was
lying supine on the ground with his shirt
raised and wearing boots but no trousers or
boxers (Figure 1). A calf stood at a distance of
about five metres. On the lower parts of its
posterior legs, some small bloodstains were

INTRODUCTION
Fatal human injuries as a result of animal
attacks are rare (De Giorgio et al. 2007).
According to the literature, such incidents
are mostly associated with dogs, big cats,
and wild carnivorous or omnivorous animals.
Herbivores seldom show aggressive behav-
iour towards humans and their assaults,
fatal and non-fatal, are exceptional (Stavrev,
1998; Gomes et al., 2000; Rainio et al., 2004).
Injuries associated with equine (horse,
donkey and mule) or bovine (bull and cow)
aggressors are usually produced by animal
kicks or by falls during riding. Our review Figure 1. The deceased lying supine on the ground.
308 Med. Sci. Law (2009) Vol. 49. No. 4
Figure 2. A close-up of the U-shaped chest injury.
visible. Five sheep were settled in the sur-
rounding courtyard. After a preliminary site
investigation, the victims body was trans-
ferred to the Institute of Legal Medicine at the
Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in
Rome for a post-mortem examination that was
performed the next day.
At autopsy, the height of the victim was
167 cm and the weight 70 kg. External exami-
nation showed numerous skin bruises and
contusions of various dimensions and direc-
tions, mostly on the face and trunk and gener-
ally 10-15 cm in diameter. All injuries were
from blunt force.
On the left side of the thorax, a contusion of
13 cm in width and 7 cm in height was present,
resembling the letter U, with convexity facing
the midline (Figure 2). The autopsy revealed
fractures from the first to the tenth rib on the
left side, but also from the second to the sixth
rib on the opposite side, both at the anterior
axillary line (Figure 3). A haemorrhage in the
soft tissues of the chest wall and many bruises
on the lungs were present. The anterior wall of
the left cardiac ventricle had three bruises
near the left anterior descending coronary
artery, but the artery was intact.
Other organs showed no signs of injury and
corresponded macroscopically to the age of the
deceased. Generalised arteriosclerosis was
present, but no significant pathological
changes were seen macroscopically or micro-
scopically.
Forensic toxicological analysis of blood and
Figure 3. Rib fractures with haemorrhage at autopsy.
urine samples did not detect either alcohol or
therapeutic or illegal drugs. The mechanism of
death was considered acute respiratory failure
secondary to the chest trauma. The conclusion
of the forensic investigation was that the cause
of death was a thoracic trauma with multiple
rib fractures, lacerated lungs, and cardiac
bruising, leading to acute respiratory failure.
The death was classified as accidental.
While questioning the neighbours, the police
discovered that the unmarried farmer was
very close to his animals, in particular to the
calf. In fact, he often spoke to it and treated it
as a friend. In addition, a female neighbour
described the farmer as very timid; according
to her, he disliked speaking to people. Recently,
apparently motivated by jealousy, he had sold
a female calf.
As the farmer was found half-undressed, yet
wearing boots and, as the background infor-
mation indicated a particularly close relation-
ship with his animals, the farmer may have
sexually approached the calf from behind,
causing an instinctive animal reaction to move
backwards, which then resulted in blunt
injuries to the male.
DISCUSSION
Injuries caused by animals are dependent not
only on the ecology of the environment, but
also on socio-cultural customs and traditions.
In rural surroundings, cows, horses and
donkeys are kept to meet individual agricul-
tural requirements, to supply food, to trans-
 Case Report: Fatal blunt injuries possibly resulting from sexual abuse of a calf
port goods and people and to participate in
various agricultural occupations. As a result
of these humananimal interactions, trauma
to humans can occur during routine animal
care or in the course of regular activities.
Hence, most of these injuries are accidental.
However, deliberate attacks, when they do
occur, can be associated with significant and
sometimes fatal trauma. When a usually docile
animal, such as a calf, acts aggressively in
particular circumstances, fatal accidents can
result, as illustrated by our case.
A few cases of bovine and equine trauma
have been reported in the literature. Herbi-
vorous animals can attack by kicking, tram-
pling, and kneeling, resulting in blunt injuries
(Busch et al., 1986; Langley, 1994). Because of
these animals size, direct blunt impact, as
well as falls from them, can produce forces of
mass and velocity comparable with those ex-
perienced in motor vehicle crashes. In fact, a
horse can kick with a force of up to one ton,
while dairy cows weigh in excess of 0.6 tons
and bulls of several breeds may weigh over 1.3
tons (Busch et al., 1986; Ok et al., 2004).
Unsurprisingly, therefore, published fatalities
involving herbivorous animals mostly describe
blunt injuries. However, herbivorous animals
can also cause bite injuries, as demonstrated
previously (Stavrev, 1998; Gomes et al., 2000;
dAloja et al., (in press)). In the present case,
the mass of the calf was sufficient to cause
blunt thoracic trauma, comprising multiple
rib fractures and pulmonary and cardiac con-
tusions. The U-shaped injury of the thoracic
wall was most likely inflicted by the calf step-
ping on its master.
Busch et al. (1986) reviewed from hospital
records the incidence and magnitude of injuries
related to horses and cows over a six-year
period ending in December 1983 in Wisconsin,
Iowa and Minnesota, USA. Although the inci-
dence of blunt bovine and equine trauma was
unexpectedly high (134 cases) and produced
the most serious thoraco-abdominal and
multiple trauma, the mortality in their series
was zero as a result of appropriate pre-hospital
resuscitation. During 1976-1980, farm animal-
related trauma accounted for 25 deaths in
Wisconsin (Busch, 1986). Aronson and Tough
(1993) reviewed the records of the Office of the
309
Chief Medical Examiner of Alberta, Canada.
They revealed 38 horse-related fatalities be-
tween 1975 and 1990, constituting on average
two fatalities per year involving horses.
It has been speculated that some animal
assaults have been provoked by the victims
behaviour (Shattock, 1968; Pinckney and
Kennedy, 1982; Langley, 1994; Durrheim and
Leggat, 1999; Chapenoire et al., 2001).
Obviously, attempted or realised sexual abuse
of an animal can be characterised as a major
provocation.
Animal sexual abuse generally occurs under
two different circumstances: (i) when no other
sexual outlet is available (casual bestiality)
or, (ii) zoophilia, i.e. an attraction to or prefer-
ence for animals (real bestiality). Such cases
are rarely described in the literature (Earls
and Lalumiere, 2002; Williams and Weinberg,
2003; Bhatia et al., 2005; Hvozdik et al., 2006),
and we were able to find only one report
analogous to ours. Blondel (1976) described a
case of a 46-year-old farmer who underwent
surgery for peritonitis sixteen hours after
engaging in sexual intercourse with a boar. A
single perforation of the sigmoid colon was
found and exteriorised. The abdomen was
lavaged and closed, with a favourable post-
operative outcome. Hvozdik et al. (2006), by
contrast, reported the death of five three-
month-old calves as result of injury after being
sexually abused, and Earls and Lalumiere
(2002) described a case of preferential bestial-
ity concerning a man who received a criminal
sentence for killing a female horse while en-
gaging in sexual acts with it.
Penal law in Italy stipulates that animal
sexual abuse can be regarded as an act of
cruelty to animals, requiring punishment with
imprisonment from three months to one year
and a fine ranging from 3000 to 15000
(Penal Code, 2004).
Although the cause of death in the case pre-
sented here was clarified in the forensic
autopsy investigation, some other points can-
not be established with certainty. Why was
the farmer found on the ground without
trousers but wearing boots? Was he intending
to sexually approach the calf or simply satisfy-
ing his physiological needs, i.e. to defecate or
urinate? At autopsy, the urinary bladder was
310 Med. Sci. Law (2009) Vol. 49. No. 4
not empty, indicating that he did not urinate
prior to death. Except for neighbours describ-
ing his particular love for his animal, we have
no objective evidence of any sexual contact be-
tween the farmer and the calf. We can only
presume that sexual attempts by the farmer
had provoked the calf into instinctively as-
saulting its attacker. Finally, we considered
the possibility proposed by the Prosecutor,
who suspected that the farmer had subse-
quently been damaged by the calf after being
killed in a homosexual homicide context. This
speculation was excluded on the basis of the
autopsy results, which disclosed no cause of
death to support this. Moreover, the autopsy
showed vital signs of thoracic trauma that
were associated with the calfs hoof impres-
sions and thus directly related to the cause of
death.
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STATUTES
Article 544 ter in Order 189, July, 20, 2004 about
modifications in the Penal Code, Italy (in
Italian). Available at:
http://gazzette.comune.jesi.an.it/2000/195/23.
htm
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