DISABILITY pensioner Sally Anne Crealy will be paying off fines for life after being convicted on 56 charges laid after her dogs terrorised Adelong.
Dogs owned by 43-year-old Crealy attacked a postal worker and two other men in January and tried to bite a child at a skatepark before rushing at and harassing the child’s mother and her dog.
On June 12, Crealy’s dog’s were barking and snarling at children from outside the Adelong Pre-School fence, forcing staff to move the children to safety.
When a Tumut Shire Council ranger put a number of the dogs in the back of a truck, Crealy became enraged and in trying to free the dogs slammed the ranger’s right arm in the truck door.
She then directed her venom at the pre-school director, yelling: “I hope the (expletive) dogs eat your (expletive) children”.
Crealy pleaded guilty to 56 charges under the Companion Animals Act and was fined $5500 in Wagga Local Court this week.
Council was awarded prosecution costs of $6000.
When court costs and victims compensation levies were added, Crealy was slugged a total of $21,391.
The court heard Crealy already had outstanding fines for unrelated matters totalling $42,000.
“I don’t care what they did, write the fines and I will put them with the rest,” Crealy told a council ranger on January 29 when confronted about her dogs’ behaviour that day.
Crealy was also convicted of several criminal charges, including assault and offensive language.
She was placed on several three-year good behaviour bonds for those criminal offences.
“I think we have all been in a position when a dog has approached us in an unfriendly manner, it’s a terrifying thing,” said magistrate Erin Kennedy in sentencing Crealy on the dog charges.
The court heard Crealy suffered from a mental illness, which Ms Kennedy said lessened the general deterrence element of sentencing.
But she warned Crealy that if she re-offended she faced jail.
“Any further offences of this type and I don’t think anyone would hesitate in imposing a custodial sentence,” Ms Kennedy said.
The court has also banned Crealy from ever owning dogs again.
In an unrelated matter, Crealy was placed on two bonds for assaulting and resisting police in 2013.
