A homeless woman has been ordered to pay almost $160,000 for committing dozens of animal cruelty offences in north Queensland.
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Sonya Lesley Gapes was fined $30,000 and must pay $125,000 to the RSPCA after the organisation seized 111 animals – including dogs, cats and birds – from her care.
"She had a genuine affection for the animals … but she simply did not have the time, space or money to care for the animals," said Magistrate Ross Mack told the Townsville Magistrates Court on Tuesday.
Ms Gapes, who represented herself in court, was also prohibited from having animals in her care for five years.
She was sentenced after being convicted of 128 animal cruelty offences in December 2022.
She had pleaded not guilty to the charges.
"The majority of the charges related to dogs who were kept in varying degrees of filth and discomfort," Magistrate Mack said.
"All the animals owned by the defendant suffered as a consequence of her inability to adequately provide for them."
The court heard Ms Gapes, 52, was living in an open shed at a Woodstock property on the outskirts of Townsville when the animals were seized in June, 2021 following complaints to the RSPCA.
She told the court she was broke, homeless and unemployed.
$1.2m RSPCA care bill
RSCPA behavioural trainer Rebecca Collyer told the court the organisation recommended about 20 of the animals be euthanased.
"Some of these animals … have continued to display fear and anxiety to a level that we do not believe it is fair for their wellbeing to basically continue to live," she said.
"It is very, very scary to them."
The court granted the request for a disposal order to euthanase the animals.
The RSPCA has had custody of the animals since they were seized more than 600 days ago.
It was seeking to recover $125,000 from Ms Gapes, which the court heard was less than 10 per cent of the actual cost of the animals' care.
The charges against Ms Gapes included:
- 55 counts of failing to provide an animal with appropriate living conditions;
- 46 counts of failing to provide appropriate food and water;
- 13 counts of failing to take reasonable steps to provide for the animal's needs for displaying normal patterns of behaviour in a way that is appropriate;
- 12 counts of failing to provide treatment for injuries, and other animal breeding and behavioural offences; and
- 3 counts of failing to comply with the compulsory code of practice for the breeding of dogs.
The maximum penalty for each charge was $43,125, or one-year imprisonment, which the court heard could have resulted in Ms Gapes being fined $5.5 million.
Ms Gapes told the court she planned to appeal against the conviction and sentence.
Her penalty was referred to the State Penalties Enforcement Registry (SPER).
