Naomi Boyle of Orchard Hills convicted over aggravated animal cruelty after horse euthanized

A volunteer foster carer with the RSPCA, who was charged with animal cruelty after a horse in her care was forced to be euthanized, has faced court.

Naomi Boyle leaves Penrith local court

A volunteer foster carer with the RSPCA, charged with animal cruelty over the “serious disablement” of a horse in her care has faced court.

Naomi Boyle, 43 of Orchard Hills faced Penrith Local Court after pleading previously guilty to committing an act of aggravated animal cruelty and failing to provide veterinary care.

The court heard Boyle had an ongoing relationship with the RSPCA in which she would foster various animals at her Orchard Hills property.

On July 4, inspectors from the RSPCA attended the Orchard Hills property after receiving a complaint about the poor condition of three horses being kept on the property - two bay horses named Johnny and Spirit and a chestnut mare called Bugs.

Upon arrival the inspector observed the horses to be suffering from disease and riddled with internal parasites. The horse named Johnny was in particularly poor condition with cracked hoofs alone in a paddock bare of grass.

A month later a veterinarian attended the property and gave the horses a medicated bath to treat scabbing caused by ‘rain-scald’ disease and advised Boyle they should be wormed again.

On September 6, Boyle contacted the RSPCA telling them “Johnny was down” and she couldn’t understand why as she had been following the treatment as directed by the vet.

The matter was dealt with at Penrith Local Court

Another veterinarian then attended the property to examine Johnny, and while the horse was now standing, he was emancipated and unstable with a heart rate double the average. He also had hair-loss, dermatitis, an abscess on his right hoof and so severely emancipated he couldn’t retain body heat.

Boyle then consented for the horse’s euthanasia after being advised the only other alternative was immediate intensive care.

Two days later on September 8, three inspectors from the RSPCA attended the property and seized the remaining two horses, in a “very poor” condition from paddocks with no freshwater or food. Further assessment found both Bugs and Spirit to be infested with a ‘clinically significant’ amount of parasites.

The court heard one of the veterinarian's who assessed Johnny, believed the horse hadn’t received sufficient food for a year or hoof care for six months.

The remaining horses were seized by the RSPCA

He also said none of the horses had received adequate treatment for gastrointestinal parasites, leaving them vulnerable to a range of health complications.

The court also heard Boyle’s offending was grounded in good intentions and she had no malice but looking after livestock was “a bit beyond her.”

In sentencing, Magistrate Geoffrey Moore took into account Boyle’s otherwise good character and that she’d an ongoing relationship fostering animals with the RSPCA.

“She is not a threat to the community her prior good character is indicative of this, she was not motivated by malice nor is she a violent or anti social person,” Mr Moore said.

However he was not willing to let the charges go without a conviction.

Boyle was sentenced to a 14 months intensive corrections order.

However the court were unable to agree on whether Boyle should be disqualified from caring for livestock in the future, with the matters to return to court for judgment on May 15.