AUSTRALIA -- A WOMAN convicted of horrific animal cruelty charges in Mandurah Magistrates Court last month will be sentenced in four weeks.
Gemma Louise Tovey was found guilty in her absence on September 23 of three counts of cruelty to an animal by abandonment and one count of failing to provide proper and sufficient food to an animal.
The court heard RSPCA inspectors went to Ms Tovey’s former address in Waroona on September 12, 2012 and found two emaciated and abandoned dogs locked inside.
Another dog, a female greyhound, was found dead in a pool of urine.
Ms Tovey is understood to have had her lease on the property terminated in June of that year.
A later inspection of the home revealed fecal matter littering the floor and walls and scratches on a toilet door indicating a dog had been locked in for some time.
The greyhound, which weighed just 14.1kgs, was taken to Murdoch Hospital for an autopsy which revealed leather, metal and elastic bands in its stomach.
The average weight of a female greyhound of similar age was reported to be between 27-34kg.
Inspectors seized the remaining dogs – a Siberian husky and a Rottweiler / Staffordshire (pit bull) mix – and are seeking to ban Ms Tovey from owning animals.
The maximum penalty for these charges is a $50,000 fine and five years’ imprisonment.
During a brief appearance on Tuesday morning Ms Tovey was not required to comment.
She was released on $1000 bail pending her sentence date on November 25.
(Mandurah Mail-Oct 13, 2014)
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