A mother-of four who cruelly threw her emaciated dog off a cliff because she couldn’t afford to euthanise the pet will spend at least seven months behind bars.
Kaylah Jade Williams, 34, showed little emotion as Magistrate Mark Douglass handed down the sentence in Wollongong Local Court on Wednesday.
She previously pleaded guilty to torturing and causing the death of 13-year-old bulldog Zoe after she trapped the pooch in a kennel and threw her over the edge near Clive Bissell Drive at Mount Keira near Wollongong, south of Sydney in January 2023
Magistrate Douglass acknowledged on Wednesday that Williams was unable to pay to euthanise Zoe after the dog got a tumour and became emaciated.
But he said that her ‘callous indifference to a living creature’ warranted prison time and sentenced the Horsley woman to 12 months jail, with a non-parole period of seven, the Illawarra Mercury reported.
‘To intentionally board a dog inside a kennel, transport it in a box trailer to the area … then tip the kennel over the edge of what is a very steep incline offends our community’s basic sense of humanity and decency,’ he told Williams.
Magistrate Douglass described her behaviour as torturous and rejected Williams’ claim that she had placed Zoe at the bottom of the cliff, hoping someone would help the pet.
He remarked that it defied logic that someone would put the dog in that spot if they hoped she would be found.
Wollongong mum-of-four Kaylah Jade Williams (pictured) was jailed on Wednesday
The court heard that area was not remote, but it was not somewhere that could be readily seen.
The bulldog was found by a runner who heard her yelping from within the escarpment the next day.
He called the police when he saw that Zoe was trapped in the kennel.
SES crews rescued Zoe, who was unable to lift her body up and had a large tumour with an open wound.
She was so ill that she had to be euthanised by a vet to put her out of her pain.
An investigation found that Zoe had been desexed in 2015 with Williams’ partner’s details on a vet’s records.
Kaylah Jade Williams showed little emotion as she was sentenced on Wednesday
An SES crew (pictured) took the pet from the area and found she was unable to lift her body up and had a large tumour with an open wound
A neighbour said she saw a distressed bulldog in a filthy kennel at 5am on January 21, but when she checked the next day, the dog was gone.
CCTV obtained by the police showed a silver Honda CRV with a kennel on its trailer reversing out of Williams’ partner’s property two hours later, the court heard.
When the car came back an hour later, there was no kennel on the trailer.
Following a 15-month investigation, Williams was arrested in April and later pleaded guilty to torturing, beating or causing the death of an animal.
Kaylah Williams (pictured) took her bulldog Zoe to a cliff and threw the dog, who was trapped in a kennel over a cliff near Wollongong in January 2023
Williams’ lawyer Lewis Etheredge told the court that his client had good prospects of rehabilitation and her focus is on her four young children.
He said Williams had no mental health issues and was fully rehabilitated from previous drug issues.
Magistrate Douglass factored in the length of time the dog suffered, the extent of her injuries and the level of distress Zoe was in when he handed down the sentence.
***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk