Perth woman convicted after magistrate condemns puppy abuse as abhorrent
A Beckenham woman has been convicted of animal cruelty after choking and beating her puppy, with the magistrate describing the conduct as wicked and abhorrent and imposing a suspended sentence and animal ban.
PEOPLE & COMMUNITY
A Beckenham woman has been convicted by the Perth Magistrates Court after a judge found she subjected her puppy to cruel and deliberate abuse, including choking and beating the animal. The court accepted RSPCA WA prosecutor submissions that the offending was “wicked,” “sustained” and “inexplicable,” and Magistrate Michelle Harries described the conduct as “abhorrent”. She told the offender, “The facts are in my view serious ... They are facts you should be very ashamed of,” underscoring the gravity of the case.
The woman, who is 23, received a suspended sentence of six months and 14 days in prison, with conditional suspension for 12 months, supervision and program requirements. She was also banned from being in charge of animals for five years under the Animal Welfare Act 2002. The court found the offending met the legal threshold for cruelty under sections 19(1) and 19(2)(a) of the Act, which carries a maximum penalty of a $50,000 fine and five years’ imprisonment.
Court reporting said the offender told police she wanted to get rid of Roxy because the puppy was “chewing up all my shit” and was frustrating her, a remark that formed part of the wider case record. That interview-style admission is one of the clearest indications of motive reported in the coverage and gives direct context for the magistrate’s finding of deliberate cruelty. RSPCA-linked reporting also places this case within a broader pattern of recent animal cruelty prosecutions across Western Australia.
The RSPCA has repeatedly urged people to report suspected abuse and to do their research before acquiring a dog, especially in light of multiple cruelty cases that have emerged in Perth and regional WA. In similar court remarks on other cases, magistrates have described offending as deliberate, callous or showing a lack of remorse, reflecting how seriously the courts treat harm to vulnerable animals. In this case, the puppy later recovered in RSPCA care and was rehomed, turning the outcome into both a legal warning and a welfare story.
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