A mother of four who cruelly threw her emaciated dog off a cliff because she could not afford to have the animal put to sleep has been sentenced to at least seven months behind bars.
Kaylah Jade Williams, 34, showed little emotion as Judge Mark Douglass delivered the sentence in Wollongong District Court on Wednesday.
She previously pleaded guilty to torturing and causing the death of 13-year-old bulldog Zoe after locking the dog in a kennel and throwing her over the edge at Clive Bissell Drive on Mount Keira, near Wollongong, south of Sydney, in January 2023.
Judge Douglass acknowledged on Wednesday that Williams could not afford to euthanize Zoe after the dog developed a tumor and became emaciated.
But he said her “callous indifference to a living being” warranted a prison sentence and sentenced the Horsley woman to 12 months in prison, with a non-parole period of seven, the Illawarra Mercury reported.
“Intentionally placing a dog in a kennel, transporting him in a trailer to that area and then dumping the kennel over the edge of a very steep slope is contrary to our community’s basic sense of humanity and decency,” he told Williams.
Judge Douglass described her behavior as torturous and rejected Williams’ claim that she placed Zoe at the bottom of the cliff in the hope that someone would help the pet.
He noted that it is illogical that someone would put the dog in that location if they hoped it would be found.
Kaylah Jade Williams (pictured), a mother of four from Wollongong, was jailed on Wednesday
The court ruled that the area was not remote and that the slope with Zoe in it was not easily visible.
The bulldog was found by a jogger who heard her howling from the slope the next day.
He called the police when he saw Zoe locked in the kennel.
The SES team saved Zoe. She was unable to lift her body and had a large tumor with an open wound.
She was so sick that she had to be euthanized by a vet to relieve her of the pain.
Investigation revealed that Zoe had been neutered in 2015, while Williams’ partner’s details were on file with a veterinarian.
Kaylah Jade Williams showed little emotion as she was sentenced Wednesday
An SES team (pictured) removed the pet from the area and found she was unable to lift her body and had a large tumor with an open wound
A neighbor said she saw a bulldog in distress in a filthy kennel at 5 a.m. on January 21, but when she checked the next day, the dog was gone.
CCTV footage obtained by police showed a silver Honda CRV with a dog kennel on its trailer reversed off Williams’ partner’s property two hours later, the court heard.
When the car returned an hour later, there was no kennel on the trailer.
After 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 stuck in a kennel, over a cliff near Wollongong in January 2023
Williams’ attorney Lewis Etheredge told the court his client has good prospects for rehabilitation and that her main focus is on her four young children.
He said Williams had no mental health problems and had fully recovered from previous drug addictions.
In imposing the sentence, Magistrate Douglass took into account the length of time the dog had suffered, the severity of her injuries and the level of stress Zoe was under.