Woman who threw dog off cliff avoids jail
Written by admin on October 4, 2024
A woman who threw her malnourished dog down the side of a cliff while still inside its kennel has avoided jail time following a successful court appeal, which found she was not a risk to the community.
Kaylah Jade Williams, 35, was sentenced to a minimum seven months behind bars earlier this year after her 13-year-old bulldog Zoe was found by a bushwalker at Mount Keira near Wollongong in Sydney’s south at the start of 2023.
NSW SES crews rescued the dog who was found to have a tumour on its stomach, which had left an open wound infested with maggots.
The dog was unable to lift its own body weight and had to be euthanised.
At the sentencing in August, Magistrate Mark Douglass said Williams’ “callous indifference to a living creature” meant jail time was appropriate.
However, on Friday in Wollongong District Court, Williams successfully appealed the full-time custody component of the 12-month jail sentence.
Her sentence was increased to 16 months with a non-parole period of 12 months, but she will serve the term in the community as part of an intensive correction order.
The Casula mum wiped away tears as Judge William Fitzsimmons SC read out the grounds of her appeal, stating she committed the act as she did not have the funds at the time to euthanise the dog.
“The appellant was in extremely difficult financial circumstances at the time of the offending having lost her employment in the midst of the Covid pandemic in circumstances where she was the single mother of four young children,” he said.
Judge Fitzsimmons said Williams had been “ostracised” from her community due to her offending.
He said it was inappropriate for Williams to serve her term of imprisonment behind bars as she did not pose a danger to the community.
“There is nothing in the offender’s history or for that matter, the nature of the offending, which suggests that community safety is necessarily at risk,” he said.
The bulldog was found by a runner who heard the dog crying from the bottom of the cliff.
The court heard earlier how police managed to obtain CCTV showing Williams reversing her silver Honda CRV out of her partner’s property.
Two hours later, Williams returned to the property with no kennel in the trailer.
Judge Fitzsimmons said the bulldog was found in a state of “incredible distress”.
“It was bad enough the appellant let the dog get into the condition it was, which in itself clearly was incredibly cruel,” he said.
“However the ultimate act of cruelty in this case was, as the appellant ultimately conceded, involved literally throwing the kennel from the cliff.”
When first arrested last April, Williams denied any involvement in the dog’s death and initially pleaded not guilty to the charge of torturing or beating an animal to cause its death.
However, she later changed her plea to guilty.
After reading the outcome of the appeal, Judge Fitzsimmons addressed Williams directly, telling her that if she breached any of the conditions of the ICO she would face full-time custody.
“To be absolutely clear you have been sentenced to a period of imprisonment,” he said.
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“Although I have determined that the period of imprisonment will be served by way of intensive correction order in the community, you should be left in no doubt that if you were to breach any of the conditions [of the ICO] … you understand you could find yourself back where you were in full-time imprisonment.”
As part of the ICO, Williams will be monitored by NSW Corrective Services, will be required to undergo community service and must not commit any other offences.
She will serve her ICO until at least October 4, 2025.
