Warradale father Matthew James Coulter follows wife to jail for mistreating dogs

  An Adelaide father followed his wife to jail for starving two dogs - as their co-accused is also sentenced.  

Matthew and Kylie Coulter have now both been sentenced for animal cruelty.

Two men have been sentenced after pleading guilty to mistreating two dogs in 2022, starving them to the point of an “emaciated condition”.

Matthew James Coulter, 46, and Jordan Rivett, 26, of Warradale appeared in the Christies Beach Magistrates Court last week in front of Magistrate Kylie Schulz after pleading guilty to two counts of ill treatment.

Coulter was sentenced to six weeks imprisonment and ordered to serve a two-year, $1000 good behaviour bond after also pleading guilty to breaching a 2021 bond.

Rivett was sentenced to a 12-month, $500 good behaviour bond. Both are forbidden from acquiring or having custody of any animals for at least 12 months.

In February, Ms Schulz sentenced Coulter's wife of 20 years - and Rivett's mother - Kylie Coulter to six weeks in prison after she pleaded guilty to two counts of ill treatment and breaching a bond set in 2021.

The 41-year-old mother of five, of Warradale, was also given a two-year, $1000 good behaviour bond in Christies Beach Magistrates Court.

During the earlier sentencing, Ms Schulz said she hoped to impose a penalty on Kylie Coulter that would help “protect animals and serve as a personal and general deterrent”.

“(The penalty should) send a message to you and the community that you should not have possession of animals and that you’ve been ordered by a court not to,” Ms Schulz said.

“(You) should not take ownership of animals if you do not have the capacity or the financial means to care for them properly.”

In February, the court granted an application to have Matthew Coulter's matter heard at a different time to allow the parents of five to adequately care for their children.

Between August 19 and September 2022, the couple and their co-accused, Rivett, were in possession of two crossbreed dogs named Oliver and Poppy.

Both dogs were found without adequate food or water and were both in an emaciated condition.

Simon Perrie, for the RSPCA, told the court both dogs were given a body-condition rating of three out of nine, indicating severe emaciation.

One of the Coulters’ dogs, Scooby, which was found by the RSPCA in an emaciated state in 2020.

He said after entering RSPCA care, the dogs significantly improved their condition.

“Poppy the dog went from 14.4 kilos to 22.7 kilos, which was 57 per cent of her body weight in a period of about five weeks,” Mr Perrie said.

“Oliver put on 45 per cent of his body weight, which was 15.1 kilos to 22 kilos in around six weeks.”

In 2020, the couple entered guilty pleas to ill-treatment of an animal at the Christies Beach Magistrate Court after an inspecting officer found their female and male mastiff crosses, named Scooby and Duncan, in an emaciated state.

Magistrate Teresa Anderson said the couple had failed to provide appropriate and adequate food for the dogs between May 29 and June 19.

For the RSPCA, Jillian Smith said the inspecting officer found Scooby at the lowest body score a dog could have.

“At the time of seizure, (Scooby) was assessed of having a body-score condition of one out of nine being extremely emaciated,” Ms Smith said.

“Duncan had a body score of 1.5 out of nine,” she said.

The RSPCA asked Ms Anderson for a prohibition order, banning the Coulters from having any animal in their custody until further order which they then breached in August 2022.

In February, the court heard Kylie Coulter had her eldest child while a teenager and has been struggling with severe depression and anxiety for most of her life.

Ms Schulz said Kylie Coulter’s prospects of rehabilitation – including receiving a high- medication dose to treat her mental health illnesses – were “encouraging”.

“I do take into account that your life with five children – becoming a mother at such a young age – has no doubt been a difficult one,” she said.

“But as you accept that this does not excuse the treatment of the dogs Poppy and Oliver.”