NINETY Brisbane lawyers have volunteered their services to try to achieve justice for an increasing number of tortured or neglected animals.
Solicitor Tracy-Lynne Geysen yesterday said that 40 barristers, including two senior counsel, and 50 solicitors had joined the group BLEATS – Brisbane Lawyers Educating and Advocating for Tougher Sentences – since it was formed a year ago.
The group's aim is to bring sentences by magistrates in animal cruelty and neglect cases into line with community expectations.
The RSPCA last year investigated more than 10,000 complaints of cruelty and neglect.
On Monday, attention will be focused on the Mackay Magistrate's Court when two men are to appear on a string of charges relating to the brutal killing of a seven-month-old puppy in the coal town of Moranbah this week.
The RSPCA has described it as one of the worst cases of animal cruelty in Australian history.
The Mackay prosecution is being brought by police but in other cases BLEATS lawyers have provided their prosecution services pro bono, without fee, to the RSPCA – saving the organisation an estimated $400,000 in legal costs.
Ms Geysen said BLEATS was formed in response to the light penalties handed down in a spate of horrifying animal cruelty cases.
"The Animal Care and Protection Act was strengthened in 2002 to provide for maximum penalties of $75,000 or two years' imprisonment for the most serious of crimes against animals," Ms Geysen said.
"But judgments, such as a $400 fine for killing a dog with an axe or a suspended sentence of three months for beating and kicking a dog before hurling it into oncoming traffic, makes one wonder how bad an offence has to be before more magistrates enforce their powers."
Ms Geysen said much of the problem was that light penalties were setting a precedent.
"Our aim is to get good advocates persuading the courts that the Animal Protection Act is a good Act and there are good penalties that can be applied," she said. "If we have a precedent that says there was a $10,000 fine, courts will take notice of that decision."
A petition on the BLEATS website calling for tougher sentencing has attracted more than 10,000 signatures.
Barrister Graeme Page, SC, who this year addressed Queensland magistrates on the issue, said BLEATS members were not "bleeding hearts".
"We have the greatest prospect of success by focusing on the legal aspects of the prosecution or appeal and not on the emotive elements of the case," he said. "That's where we have had our success."
Mr Page said penalties not aligning with community expectations had led to "enormous frustration by the RSPCA inspectors who were losing the incentive to prosecute".
Recent cases prosecuted by BLEATS members have resulted in some tougher sentences.
But RSPCA chief inspector Mick Pecic said sentences were not yet meeting community expectations. "We will keep on providing exhaustive information to the courts to enable magistrates to provide appropriate sentences.," Mr Pecic said.
RECENT PENALTIES FOR OFFENCES INVOLVING ANIMALS
HARRISTOWN MAN Craig Anthony Maher let his pet dog waste away so badly it had to be put down by the RSPCA within one hour of being seized.
The dog, seized from Maher's home south of Ipswich on July 10, was severely emaciated, could not walk, had bloodied diarrhoea, ulcerated gums and eyes, skin infections and claws that had grown into its paw pads.
Maher pleaded guilty in Toowoomba Magistrates court to breaching his duty of care and was fined $5000.
MARSDEN MAN Anthony Aistrope, 29, failed to provide food and water for his two dogs and did not treat a tumour on one of them.
He was fined $2500 after pleading guilty in the Beenleigh Magistrate's Court this month.
A HORSE endured seven years of agony because its owner failed to treat a painful and disabling condition affecting its hooves.
The horse, owned by Lee George Wood, of Giru, between Townsville and Bowen, bit and chewed at its hooves to relieve the pain. It later had to be put down by the RSPCA.
Wood pleaded guilty to breaching his duty of care and failing to treat the horse's condition. He was fined $5000.
AN INGHAM MAN who did not provide his dog with appropriate food and water, and failed to treat six puppies for worms and fleas, was fined $3250 and ordered to pay $66 in court costs and $250 professional costs.
Jared Luke Quartero, 22, pleaded guilty last month to the offences.
A TEENAGER who kicked a kitten to death was sentenced to one month's jail but served only five days.
Shane Moore, 18, of Narangba on Brisbane's northside, twice kicked the 12-week-old silver tabby cat, named Bubbles, rupturing its liver, after it affectionately rubbed up against him in a suburban park.
Moore pleaded guilty in Caboolture Magistrate's Court last November but successfully appealed against the jail term. He is serving 18 months' probation.
A BRISBANE WOMAN who helped slaughter a pet goat in a church as part of a mock Satanic sacrifice escaped a jail sentence and had no conviction recorded against her name.
Tracey Lee Arnold, 26, of Coorparoo, in Brisbane's east, was part of a drunken group who last year stole the pet goat, which was named Maddie, then slaughtered and decapitated it inside a church.
Arnold pleaded guilty in Brisbane Magistrate's Court in September last year to stealing stock and injuring animals. She was placed on probation, ordered to make an apology and had her driver's licence suspended for three months.
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