Yowie Bay: Miranda man charged with animal cruelty after dog found dead

A court has heard a southern Sydney man accused by police of drowning his two-year-old dog by cable tying it to a cement block in a river allegedly had a bundle of identical cable ties at his home when detectives swooped.

A magistrate has described claims a man drowned his pet dog by tying the two-year-old Belgian malinois to a cement block with cable ties as “disturbing” as the southern Sydney plumber faced court for the first time.

Shannon De Waard, 49, was charged with torturing or beating an animal to death, committing an act of aggravated cruelty upon an animal and prohibited drug possession.

Horrified swimmers found the deceased dog underwater in the Port Hacking River at Yowie Bay with its head tied to a cement block with cable ties on Saturday afternoon.

Botany Bay Water Police rushed to the scene but tragically the dog could not be saved.

Shannon De Waard was charged with alleged animal cruelty offences after a dog was found deceased underwater in Sydney’s south at the weekend.

De Waard was arrested at his Miranda home on Monday evening, where police allegedly also uncovered 117g of cannabis leaf.

At Sutherland Local Court, Magistrate Phillip Stewart said the allegations against De Waard were “disturbing”.

“Cable ties the same length and colour as the cable ties used to tie up the dog were located in his residence, and there is clear evidence he had the dog in his possession at the relevant times,” Mr Stewart said.

“There’s a suggested motive for him to get rid of the dog, due to its alleged aggression.”

Though he described the prosecution case as strong, Mr Stewart granted De Waard conditional bail.

“This case will cause anger and upset in the community,” Mr Stewart said.

Shannon De Waard.

“I must deal with it under the legislation, bail is not to be used as a punishment – as unpopular as this may be and strong as the prosecution case may seem it does not cause any bail issues”.

De Waard will be required to report to police three times a week, abstain from drugs and alcohol and abide by a curfew between 8am and 8pm.

His Legal Aid solicitor Natasha Rudduck told the court De Waard would plead not guilty to all allegations.

Shannon De Waard.

“I accept these are very serious charges before the court, and it’s certainly accepted that if he was convicted it would be most definitely found that the Section 5 threshold (for imprisonment) was crossed,” Ms Rudduck told the court.

“But it would be open to the court to impose an intensive corrections order given his quite limited record.”

Ms Rudduck told the court De Waard had no matters on his criminal record between 2008 and 2021 and prior entries consisted mostly of driving and drug offences.

De Waard’s matter will return to Sutherland Local Court on November 23.

The plumber did not respond to questions after his release on bail.

De Waard was seen returning to his Miranda home after his release on bail, where his truck tyres were destroyed and deflated due to the insertion of several nails in all four wheels.

A car at De Waard’s home.

There were nails in every tyre of the truck.