Published: 2 February, 2009, 05:09
Edited: 16 October, 2009, 12:00
Could your sheep cost you $US 2,500? Well, yes – if your animal is unlucky enough to be run over by an expensive car. Even though the sheep’s owner is a poor 92-year-old woman, it’s no excuse not to receive compensation.
The drama started when Aleksandra Vdovina's son tethered her four sheep near the pasture, but then they ran off. One of them got knocked down by a Ford car which neighbour Oleg Kuznetsov was behind the wheel of at the time.
“My sheep hit a car and now the sheep is dead. I have to pay for the car damage, but I do not have the money, and my relatives do not have it as well,” the elderly woman says.
Surprisingly enough for the whole village, he didn’t even try to come to any arrangement – he just sued the 92-year-old woman. The local court ruled that Aleksandra will have to cover the expenses for repairing the vehicle.
In Russia, accidents with farm animals are not covered by insurance.
“Our remaining sheep have been seized by the bailiffs. I can neither sell them nor even kill and eat them,” said Aleksandra’s son Anatoly.
Aleksandra's bank account of $US 300 has also been frozen.
The saga went far beyond the sleepy village in central Russia, provoking a public outcry. Oleg says the media have wrongly depicted him as some sort of villain wanting to rob the old woman.
“Local authorities first said the sheep belonged to nobody. So my mother, the owner of the car, sued Anatoly and his son because they cared for them, but then they produced a document showing Aleksandra was the owner,” he says.
The elderly woman should have paid a fine of over $US 2,500, to compensate for the costs of repair of the car paid for by the owner, but now the court has cut down the fine to $US 600.
Aleksandra still has to come up with the money. It may have been reduced by three quarters, but to the 92-year-old it’s still a king’s ransom.
Well, this tale got right under the (sheep) skin of one RT viewer as the wooly problem melted the heart of a notable British musician, Francis Monkman; so much, in fact, that he has offered to pay off all of the elderly woman’s debt.
He says he just wanted to hit back at the injustice of the world.
“I want to apologise that it is all to do with this,” he said, pointing at his money while addressing the old woman. “Because THIS will not save the planet – only THIS will save the planet,” the musician added as he placed his hand over his heart. “I hope you’ll find a nice sheep to replace the other one and I hope your life becomes happy again.”