AN ANIMAL cruelty case described by a magistrate as “extremely disturbing” will be finalised in Mandurah Magistrates Court next week.
Gemma Louise Tovey, 24, faces a maximum fine of $50,000 and/or five years imprisonment after being convicted of four charges in relation to the horrific neglect of three dogs in Waroona in 2012.
The court heard RSPCA inspectors went to Ms Tovey’s former address 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 faecal 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.
The autopsy also revealed the greyhound would have suffered for a number of weeks before its death.
Inspectors seized the remaining dogs – a Siberian Husky which Ms Tovey had fostered just weeks earlier, and a Rotti/Staffy X.
Both dogs had to be euthanased for humane reasons.
The matter was described to the court as a “very serious case of animal cruelty” by the prosecution who said the case was especially unsettling due to Ms Tovey having been a dog foster carer and a registered greyhound worker.
“A reasonable person does not abandon their animals,” the prosecutor said.
“This was deliberate, sheer neglect.”
The prosecutor said Ms Tovey had shown no remorse and had exhibited a lack of care and disinterest in the matter.
Counsel for Ms Tovey referred to the case as “deeply regrettable” and said arrangements his client reportedly made for the dogs’ care were inadequate.
Magistrate Leanne Atkins told Ms Tovey she was looking at a “very bleak future” before standing the matter down for sentencing on Monday, January 12.