Named and shamed: animal abusers of the Wide Bay Burnett
Animals locked in cars, four dogs put down and countless neglect cases have plagued the Wide Bay Burnett region with those committing the offences forced to pay. Warning: Distressing content
Police & Courts
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Every year Queensland courts deal with some of the most heartbreaking offences including cases of animal abuse and neglect.
From allowing living conditions to reach “putrid” levels, to failing to provide veterinary care, following are some of the most shocking cases to come before the courts of Wide Bay Burnett.
*Warning distressing content.
CONVICTIONS RECORDED
Shaun Leonard Walsh
A former Gympie sawmill worker had his dogs taken away from him after he left them trapped in a car and injured.
Shaun Leonard Walsh, 38, pleaded guilty in Gympie Magistrates Court on December 1, 2022, to one count of failing to provide for an animal’s needs.
The court heard Walsh had left one of his dogs locked inside a car for an entire day, with no access to freshwater or air, and left another dog with puncture wounds untreated.
Police prosecutor Melissa Campbell told the court Walsh’s actions were part of ongoing issues and advocated all animals must be protected as “they don’t have a voice.”
Three of Walsh’s four dogs were removed from his care by the RSPCA who ordered $2005 in compensation.
Walsh was given 150 hours of community service, ordered to pay compensation to the RSPCA who prohibited him from getting a new animal without approval for two years.
Convictions were recorded.
Linda Peterson and Gregory Peterson
A 52-year-old Bundaberg woman and her former partner were sentenced in the Bundaberg Magistrates court in April 2022 after a German shepard in their care had to be euthanized by the RSPCA.
Linda Peterson, 52, and her former partner, Gregory Peterson, 64, pleaded guilty to five counts each of failing to provide appropriate treatment for injury and one count each of failing to give appropriate food and water.
In a 2021 investigation the RSPCA inspected their home where they found 12-year-old german shepherd Sheba in a “very poor condition.”
The dog was seized and euthanized by the RSPCA after finding she had too many underlying conditions to be saved.
Linda and Gregory Peterson were each convicted and fined $2500 with a 50 per cent loyalty to the RSPCA, referred to SPER.
They were additionally each fined $250 worth of professional costs to the RSPCA and $105.35 for court costs.
CONVICTIONS NOT RECORDED
Michael Zink
The son of a well-known Bundaberg snake catcher appeared in court after he failed to provide adequate water for three juvenile chickens and two juvenile ducks.
Michael Leslie Zink, 21, originally faced 17 charges in the Bundaberg Magistrates Court in February 2023, however Magistrate John McInnes dismissed much of the evidence provided by the RSPCA and vets relating to the animals’ condition and said failure to provide detailed evidence and the typical idea of what a person might know about animal health was not enough to convict.
Zink faced the charges after an RSPCA inspector visited the Zink’s family home in 2020 and asked to inspect it following reports they had been keeping animals after a previous prohibition order.
The RSPCA alleged a number of animals on the property were underweight and had inadequate access to water and food or clean living spaces.
The court was told Zink had failed to keep water sources clean for three juvenile chickens and two juvenile ducks. and it was at an “unacceptable level of contamination.”
Zink was given a 12 month $500 good behaviour bond for one charge of animal neglect and found not guilty on the remaining 16 charges.
A conviction was not recorded.
Kuri Kitawal
An Bundaberg man was told he was lucky to avoid jail time after he flew into a fit of rage so extreme it resulted in the death of a kitten.
Kuri Kitawal, 19, pleaded guilty in Bundaberg Magistrates Court in February 2022 to one count of serious animal cruelty (domestic violence offence).
The court heard Kitawal had become enraged after his dog had escaped from the yard during a heated argument with his then partner.
In a fit of rage he retaliated by picking up his partners kitten, and threw it with such force it convulsed and died.
Magistrate Trinity McGarvie said it was an upsetting act of animal cruelty which inflicted psychological harm on his ex-partner and the children which were present.
“Your offending is startling in the level of its cruelty to a defenceless kitten.”
“Quite often, people receive terms of imprisonment for harming a defenceless animal causing its death.”
Kitawal was placed on 12 months probation and no conviction was recorded.
Eleanor Jayne Simpson
A former hospitality worker was charged after CCTV footage revealed the moment she drunkenly attacked her employer’s puppy.
Eleanor Jayne Simpson pleaded guilty to one charge of animal cruelty prohibited in the Kingaroy Magistrates Court in March 2o23.
Police prosecutor Barry Stevens said CCTV footage revealed the moment the 60-year-old committed the act.
“The footage shows the dog was walking near the defendant and started to walk away from her, she then kicked the dog in the rear very hard,” Sgt Stevens said.
“The dog had a pre-existing leg and joint condition,” he said.
Defence lawyer Jay Rose said Simpson had been drinking prior to the incident and had blacked out the memory of kicking the puppy.
“She was heavily intoxicated (and) doesn’t remember the incident,” Mrs Rose said.
Simpson was sentenced to a $500 six-month good behaviour bond and no convictions were recorded.
Simon Denzil Thomsen
After a Glen Davon man became so incensed by an attack on his goats, he committed an act which led to the horrific deaths of two dogs.
Simon Denzil Thomsen faced Nanango Magistrates Court on April 4, 2022 charged with one count of injuring animals after he fed them poison laced meat.
Thomsen told the court he carried out the act after witnessing a dog “mauling” his goats on his property in February, before finding six of his chickens dead.
He told the court he came across a mastiff which he claimed was the very same dog which allegedly attacked his animals, along with a dachshund.
Thomsen represented himself in court and told Magistrate Andrew Sinclair he decided the bait the mastiff as both dogs were roaming the area and he feared for the lives of his own animals.
“I purchased the bait last year … it was my only option. I didn’t want the dog coming back later on during the day to finish the job,” he said.
Thomsen denied feeding the bait to the dachshund after admitting to police he poisoned the mastiff however both dogs died, with a witness telling police she watched the dachshund begin convulsing and die “within minutes.”
Thomsen was fined $2205.60 and no conviction was recorded.
Mitchell Weeks and Marion Warner
A South Burnett couple found themself in court after two injured and emaciated dogs were found in their yard, with one described as nearly “sucked dry” by ticks.
Mitchell Francis Liam Weeks and Marion Warner appeared by phone in the Kingaroy Magistrates Court in March 2022 after they came to the attention of police two years earlier.
When police attended their Blackbutt home, they noticed the appalling condition of the dogs, with one dog an underweight American Staffordshire Bull Terrier named Raz tethered to a tree with no shelter and wounds on his back.
The dogs water was green, with its only shelter a chicken coop-like enclosure.
The story was no better for a second dog at the home, an “incredibly skinny” Boxer named Cedric who was found covered in flies and fleas with a severely infected wound on the underside of its neck, reportedly crawling with maggots.
Weeks and Warner pleaded guilty to three charges each of breaching their duty of care to an animal by failing to take reasonable steps to provide for the animals accommodation and living conditions, and two counts of breaching their duty of care to an animal by failing to take reasonable steps to provide treatment for disease or injury.
Warner was placed on a good behaviour bond for 12 months and Weeks was fined $5000, with both ordered to pay roughly $2285 in veterinary and legal compensation.
They were prohibited from owning an animal without RSPCA permission until 2024.
Lisa Radford and Clint Buckland
A neglected Staffordshire Bull Terrier named Dolly was rescued from a Nanango property, suffering from a painful skin condition which had been afflicting her for months in 2021.
Co-accused Lisa Radford, 33, pleaded guilty to breaching her duty of care to Dolly in June 2021 alongside Clint Buckland, 42, who entered a written plea of guilty.
After she was rescued by an RSPCA veterinarian, who diagnosed Dolly with Demodicosis (mange), causing severe crusting, itchiness, alopecia, excoriation, and scabbing of the entire body.
“The examining vet noted that it was obvious Dolly was in pain and discomfort from her skin condition, and that she’d been in this condition for several months,” RSPCA solicitor Sophie Taylor told the court.
The court heard the pair had made some efforts towards Dolly’s care but a broken arm had put Radford out of work and Buckland was receiving Centrelink, so they told the court they could not afford to take her to the vet for the level of care she needed.
“We were struggling to pay rent and could only afford to get her shampoos,” Radford said.
Buckland and Radford were fined $1000 each and ordered them to pay $402.05 compensation for Dolly’s vet costs along with more than $250 in legal costs which were all referred to SPER.
Buckland and Radford were also placed under a prohibition order, preventing them from adopting a new pet without RSPCA approval.
No convictions were recorded.
Ilona Karmynchinka
More than 50 animals were found to be living in “putrid conditions” when the RSPCA raided the unregistered business of a Gympie pet breeder.
Ilona Karmynchinka pleaded guilty in Gympie Magistrates Court in October 2021 to six duty of care breaches as a pet owner by not providing a suitable environment, medical attention and one charge of failing to comply with a direction from animal welfare.
The court heard Karmynchinka was operating her business across two properties in Gympie breeding and selling cats and dogs which she sold on Gumtree.
RSPCA prosecutor Adrian Braithwaite said a search on the properties revealed the animals living in “inappropriate conditions” with many needing immediate veterinary treatment.
“There was, for example, rooms with windows closed and no ventilation, a strong smell of ammonia, pens containing a number of cats and kittens … cats and dogs with injuries that needed treating,” he said.
“There was multiple locations that contained faeces and urine, overflowing litter trays, much of the food was rotting and infested with maggots.”
When Karmynchinka spoke in the court she blamed her co-accused Raymond Lloyd and said the animals that were sick had diarrhoea due to being fed incorrectly by him.
She was sentenced to complete 200 hours of community service within 12 months, and ordered to pay $29,507.20 in compensation to the RSPCA.
A conviction was not recorded.
Raymond John Lloyd
A Gympie father’s role in unregistered pet business came crashing down when it was revealed he kept more than 60 animals in filthy, disease-ridden living conditions.
Raymond John Lloyd, 37 was employed in an unregistered pet business owned by Ilona Karmynchinka which sold animals through sites such as Gumtree when the RSPCA raided the properties in May 2021.
They uncovered living in a state of unventilated squaller, with unclean water and overflowing faeces spread across the properties.
Many of the animals presented with skin conditions, injuries, ear infections and dental issues.
Lloyd pleaded guilty in the Gympie Magistrates Court to one charge each of breaching an animal welfare direction and not allowing animals to exhibit normal patterns of behaviour, as well as two each of failing to provide appropriate living conditions and failing to provide proper treatment for various diseases and illnesses.
In his sentencing remarks Magistrate Chris Callaghan noted Lloyd had pleaded guilty to the extent that he was providing assistance to his co-accused, who was the “primary offender” and there were too many animals for Lloyd to care for himself.
Lloyd was sentenced to 100 hours of community service, fined a total of $6707.20 and banned from owning any animal for five years, unless approved in writing.
A conviction was not recorded.
Tracy Ann McManus
A Hervey Bay woman found herself in court after a drunken attack on her “traitor” dog was committed right in front of police.
Tracy Ann McManus pleaded guilty to one count of animal cruelty when she appeared before Hervey Bay Magistrates Court in February 2021.
Police were called to her home on another matter where they met a “intoxicated and very emotional” McManus.
While he partner spoke to police, officers observed her repeatedly hitting her dog with a closed fist, before striking the dog in head and squeezing its head.
The police overheard her calling the dog “a traitor,” and when police asked her partner why McManus had called the dog that he told them the British bulldog was “not fulfilling the role of guard dog”
McManus was fined $750 and no conviction was recorded.
John Paul Hayes and Marteaka Browne
A Gympie couple were forced before the courts after authorities found several underweight animals at their home after they were previously prohibited by the courts from owning animals.
John Paul Hayes and Marteaka Browne, pleaded guilty to three charges of unlawfully contravening a prohibition order, three charges of failing to provide appropriate living conditions and four charges of failing to provide food and water for animals.
The pair appeared in the Gympie Magistrates Court in 2021 where it was revealed RSPCA inspectors had attended their property in 2019 where they found three kittens with no water, who at only three weeks old were not moving when they were found.
The court heard there was also a build-up of faeces along with empty pet food packets, dog bowls and leads that suggested “the hoarding of animals” at the property.
Ms Browne told the courts she was staying in Brisbane at the time off the offence, and someone was supposed to have care for the animals in her absence.
“The main offending (is that) the defendants continue to obtain animals against the prohibition order,” the RSPCA prosecutor told the court.
The pair was prohibited from possessing, purchasing or acquiring animals for life, unless amended by the RSPCA and instructed to pay $2855.80 each in vet and boarding fees.
Convictions were not recorded.
Natasha Lee and Shane Leslie Bennett
A tip off to the RSPCA landed a Hervey Bay couple in court after their dog and her puppies were spied in an emaciated condition living among their own faeces.
Natasha Lee, 35, and Shane Leslie Bennett, 38, both pleaded guilty to four charges of breach of care to an animal when they appeared before Hervey Bay Magistrates Court in June 2021.
The court the RSPCA had received a complaint about their dog and two puppies and when an inspector arrived at the property he saw the a Great Dane cross bull Arab named Sasha through the fence.
She was tethered by a large metal chain, with her hips, ribs and spine protruding, as well as exhibiting visible muscle wastage.
The inspector also spotted two puppies, who were in a slightly better condition but had severely distended abdomens, indicating they had hookworm burdens.
When the animals were seized the court heard the RSPCA found the Sasha’s condition as preventable and exacerbated by poor living conditions, inadequate diet and underfeeding, with the puppies also had fleas and hookworms.
Natasha Bennett told the court she had dewormed Sasha shortly before the inspection but had been advised not to worm the puppies, and Sasha’s condition was due to the fact she had just given birth.
It was revealed Sasha had given birth to seven puppies, one of which had died and two had been rehomed at only three weeks old.
The couple were each fined $2500 and ordered to pay $418.70 in vet bills and banned from owning animals for five years other than those approved by the RSPCA’s chief inspector.
No convictions were recorded.
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