Wollongong mum Kaylah Williams escapes full-time jail after throwing dog off cliff

A mother of four has avoided full-time jail despite committing what a judge described as “potentially the worst type of animal cruelty” when she threw a dog off a cliff in the Illawarra.

A mother of four has avoided full-time jail despite committing what a judge described as “potentially the worst type of animal cruelty” when she threw a dog off a cliff in the Illawarra.

Kaylah Jade Williams, 34, was sentenced in Wollongong Local Court in August to a 12-month jail term, with a seven-month non-parole period, for the heinous act of causing the death of an animal.

However, she lodged an appeal which was heard in the city’s District Court on Friday, when Judge William Fitzsimmons overturned the full-time prison sentence in favour of a 16-month intensive correction order.

The shocking incident occurred one morning in January 2023, when a bushwalker near Clive Bissell Drive, a road leading to the summit of Mt Keira north of Wollongong, heard a yelping dog about 8.30am.

After scouring the area, the man found an injured Australian bulldog named Zoe in an upturned kennel at the base of the escarpment.

The State Emergency Service was called in to retrieve the animal. Picture: NSW Police

Police and the State Emergency Service were called in to rescue the animal but it had to be euthanised due to its poor health and injuries, which included a stomach wound infested with maggots and malnourishment.

Police seized the kennel for forensic examination, with Williams arrested and charged at her home in Horsley in April.

In court on Friday, Williams’ lawyer, Aaron Kernaghan, said his client’s week in jail prior to being bailed was a “shock to her system”.

Mr Kernaghan submitted “financial issues” and “family difficulties” were at the core of why she killed the animal.

The court heard Williams had been subjected to extracurial punishment via the “attention” the case had received, which had led her to be “ostracised”.

Kaylah Williams outside Wollongong District Court on Friday. Picture: Dylan Arvela

A sentencing assessment report completed weeks before Williams was sentenced in the Local Court found she had “failed to accept ultimate responsibility for her actions”.

She told the report author she left the animal in the “wilderness” because she “could not afford the dog” and she “hoped” someone would find it and “help save it”.

The court heard she denied throwing the dog off the cliff, instead suggesting rain led the kennel to “slip off”.

Judge Fitzsimmons described what Williams did to the poor animal as the “ultimate act of cruelty” and said the jail sentence handed down by magistrate Mark Douglass was not “the worst that could have been imposed”.

Kaylah Williams will have to complete 300 hours of community service as part of the intensive correction order. Picture: Facebook

“The facts of this case are nothing short of horrific and involve potentially the worst type of animal cruelty that could be inflicted on an animal,” the judge said.

He also noted Zoe was still alive when the dog was found in what would have been a state of “incredible pain and distress”.

The intensive correction order will expire in March 2026, by which time Williams must complete 300 hours of community service.

“Let me make myself absolutely clear, this is a sentence of imprisonment,” Judge Fitzsimmons said to Williams.

“You should be left with no doubt, if you breach any condition of the order you could find yourself where you were in full-time imprisonment.”

Got a court yarn? Email [e-mail]