NSW Government set to increase animal cruelty penalties
As the state government moves to legislate some of the toughest animal cruelty laws in the country, we take a look at 11 recent cases that shamed NSW.
Wentworth Courier
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An eight-fold increase of the current penalties for animal cruelty offences looks set to be introduced following a long campaign.
Animal rights advocates are eagerly awaiting the draft animal cruelty bill to be announced by the NSW Agriculture Minister which is expected to land when sitting resumes next year.
It was recently revealed Minister Adam Marshall would soon give notice in parliament of the bill which proposes an eight-fold increase of the current penalties under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act.
“Everyone – from those neglecting their pet in the backyard to covert puppy factory grubs – should be on notice … do the right thing or face the consequences,” Mr Marshall said.
An act of cruelty which currently has a maximum penalty of $5,500 would instead attract a whopping $44,000 fine and/or 12 months jail for individuals and $220,000 for corporations.
The Animal Justice Party’s Emma Hurst has a bill of her own she still intends to put forward.
While her legislation goes further than the government’s, she is buoyed by the momentum towards prioritising animal welfare.
“We want to see mandatory animal bans for people who have been convicted of bestiality or higher end animal cruelty charges,” Ms Hurst said.
“The other thing we have put forward are mandatory minimums.
“A fine of $600 or no fine and no jail time for killing, for example, a ringtail possum is absolutely pathetic. It doesn’t meet community expectations and it does nothing to deter further animal abuse.
“There is already a precedence created by these fines of $600 or less so by having these mandatory minimums it ensures more appropriate penalties are imposed by the courts.”
RSPCA CEO Steve Coleman applauded the legislation.
“We are asking every politician to get behind these legislative changes that will see animals benefit from increased penalties,” he said.
Below we revist 11 horror cases which shamed NSW.
ROSE BAY
In December 2017 an eastern suburbs dog walker left a client’s dog locked in the back of her car where he died after temperatures reached an estimated 50C as she boarded a cruise to Vanuatu.
Vaucluse dog walker Katarzyna Rynas, 46, pleaded guilty to a count of being in charge of an animal fail to exercise care and was fined $3000 and ordered to pay the distraught owners a further $3000.
When she was sentenced in Downing Centre Local Court, Magistrate Jacqueline Milledge said the mother-of-two’s act “doesn’t warrant jail or community service”, despite it being a “giant failure” and a case of “extreme neglect”.
Rynas initially decided to appeal the sentence over the death of four-year-old keeshond Beau but later chose to withdraw.
EASTLAKES
A man was sprung on CCTV kicking a dog and swinging it by its choker chain in a lift in 2017.
Grant Haggart, 46, was convicted of committing an act of cruelty on Arian, a Staffordshire Terrier.
He was fined $5500 and prohibited from owning any animals for a decade.
CONCORD
Car wash owner John Odah, 51, repeatedly bashed his French bulldog Eifell and filmed the attacks in order to get back at his ex- girlfriend who he discovered was using a dating app.
RSPCA officers found the pup lying in a pool of her own faeces after the distraught woman contacted them upon receiving the four videos.
“Say hello to mummy, that’s right bow your head you little c***,” Odah says in one of the videos.
Odah initially pleaded guilty to two counts of animal cruelty in May.
He appealed his sentence in the Sydney District Court last month and had his two year community corrections order and ban on owning a dog reduced to 11 months.
MINTO
The operator of a petting zoo who tortured and killed a bull terrier by stabbing it with a pitchfork and hitting it with a mallet had his jail term and conviction quashed on appeal in April.
Daniel Brighton, 30, was originally convicted and sentenced in June 2019 to three years and four months jail for his actions, which he said were a result of the dog’s attack on his pet camel Alice.
On appeal the Supreme Court ruled the magistrate who originally dealt with Brighton, who also strung the dog up in a tree, had erred in the definition of “pest animal” and “extermination”.
Brighton’s original sentence was the longest ever imposed for animal cruel offences in NSW history.
LAKESLAND
Chicken farmer Shaun Robert Stone, 36, was convicted of multiple serious animal cruelty charges after 1000 of his hens died and a further 4000 were euthanized by the RSPCA.
In April last year the commercial egg farmer was convicted and fined $6,500, placed on a 16-month community corrections order and prohibited from owning any animal for five years.
All of the poultry were lice infested, many were underweight and suffering a respiratory condition, they lacked sufficient food and water and dead chicken carcasses littered the shed.
RSPCA inspectors attended the property 10 times over a fortnight in June 2018 to monitor the situation which eventually resulted in Stone agreeing to the mass euthanization of the sick hens.
The penalty equates to just $1.30 per chicken which suffered before its death.
CARLINGFORD
A woman who kicked her husky, hit him with a chair and even swung her tabby cat at him in March 2019 was convicted and fined.
RSPCA NSW was provided with eight videos shot over a two-day period.
The footage captures her holding the cat by its legs and swinging it to hit the dog, hitting the dog’s head and body with a collapsible metal chair, kicking the dog 11 times as he cowers in the corner of the balcony and hitting him 20 times over a three-minute period with the plastic base of a cat litter tray.
The 21-year-old pleaded guilty to four counts of animal cruelty in Parramatta Local Court and was fined $600 for each count, ordered to pay veterinary costs and banned from owning an animal for five years with the exception of one cat.
Both animals were renamed and rehomed and Akiri the Husky and Henry the cat are reported to be doing well.
CURL CURL
A Brookvale science teacher beat a mother ringtail possum to death leaving her two babies defenceless after he was unable to stop it nibbling his trees.
Robert Ferguson, 68, appeared before Downing Centre Local Court in April 2019 on a charge of animal cruelty relating to the incident which had occurred in June 2017.
He was sentenced to a two year conditional release order by Magistrate Jennifer Giles.
“It is an unfortunate phenomenon of the 21st century where people come before the court for beating at something that annoys them,” Magistrate Giles said.
“We have become selfish and impatient. It is a mum ringtail possum eating your trees. She is a protected native animal and you are a science teacher.”
Along with all native animals, ringtail possums are a protected species under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974 and it is illegal to kill or catch and release them without a licence.
FOREST LODGE
An inner city couple who beat their Spitz puppy with a slipper and then “accidentally” uploaded the footage to social media lost an appeal in the Sydney District Court to have their sentence quashed.
The couple, known only as Ms Chen and Mr Deng, initially appeared in the Downing Centre Local Court in October 2018 where they each pleaded guilty to an act of animal cruelty.
The RSPCA received multiple complaints about the footage of the distressed pup which was posted to Chinese social site Weibo.
The couple attempted to appeal their $600 fines, one year ban on owning an animal and the $750 in costs to the RSPCA but the original decision was upheld.
INVERELL
In September a northern NSW puppy farm was raided for the second time in five years after an undercover investigation by animal rights group Oscar‘s Law.
The puppy farm was first raided in 2015 and despite hundreds of charges being brought against the owners by the local council, the matter was ultimately settled out of court.
The most recent raid occurred after a whistleblower who used to work on the farm alleged a 10 month old boxer named Strawberry had been left to die after some of her pups became stuck during birth.
Strawberry was allegedly covered in maggots in the days before her death due to the rotting pup carcasses and she was denied veterinary treatment.
It is believed the surviving pups were shipped over to Western Australia where they were offered for sale at a pet store.
GOULBURN
German shepherd Buzz died an agonising death due to chronic starvation which caused his empty gut to twist around itself.
Alice Barrett, 45, was convicted of committing an act of aggravated animal cruelty, fined $8000 and ordered to pay vet costs of $634 in May 2018.
It was believed the extreme starvation occurred over a period of more than two months.
Unless otherwise indicated no conviction was recorded in these cases.
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