By GEORGIA WESTGARTH
CITY of Casey Mayor and animal activists have been left reeling over a court’s ruling into the housing and mistreatment of 33 dogs hidden at a Blind Bight farm.
An Oscar’s Law spokeswoman said the council’s case against dog owner Troy Scoble was “weak” and the ruling unjust, while City of Casey Mayor Sam Aziz called the outcome “disappointing”.
The 34-year-old owner of 33 American bulldogs and Staffordshire bull terriers, which were found in poor conditions in April, pleaded guilty to 52 of the 53 charges against him at the Dandenong Magistrates’ Court on Thursday 23 June.
The prosecution came after Mr Scoble had failed to comply with council notices.
Mr Scoble escaped convicted by Magistrate Pauline Spencer because he had no prior convictions and was of “good character”. But he was ordered to pay a donation to the court fund of $1000 and $1500 in Casey council court costs within three months.
Mr Scoble was also ordered to reduce the number of dogs on his property to four, or obtain a permit for more dogs within 60 days.
The court ordered Casey council access to the property after 60 days to ensure compliance with the order.
The 53 charges included failing to register the dogs, keeping dogs on a property without a permit and failing to reduce the number of dogs or apply for a permit, as well as illegal tethering.
Casey council and the RSPCA found 10 dogs were illegally tethered on leads less than three metres.
All the animals were found to be permanently chained, while some were housed in 44 gallon drums and unable to stand, turn around or lie comfortably.
When Magistrate Pauline Spencer asked Mr Scoble why he had so many dogs he replied “I like dogs”.
Wearing skull clad jeans and using a shoe box to store his papers, Mr Scoble said he didn’t have a partner or wife and that the dogs keep him “out of trouble”.
Mr Scoble told the court that he did care about his dogs and that when he was arrested following a police raid on his property on Friday 15 April, he was released at 9am the next morning and returned home straight away to feed his dogs.
Mr Scoble said he wasn’t aware of the laws surrounding tethering lengths despite Casey council investigating him in September 2013 and March 2014.
Mr Scoble told the court he has removed eight of the 33 dogs and plans on relocating to New South Wales.
After the hearing the Oscar’s Law spokeswoman, who was present in court, said: “There was no justice done today, the dogs are still there.”
She said that her organisation had not seen the last of Mr Scoble.
“It sounds like he’s moving to a puppy farm. Laws in New South Wales are much weaker than Victoria. He will get away with much more there,” she said.
“We will alert our New South Wales team to him, we’ll be out trying to make sure dogs are OK.”
Oscar’s Law representatives, who secretly installed cameras on the property and reported the mistreatment to the Casey council, have labelled the conditions they found as “barbaric”.
After the court hearing the Oscar’s Law spokeswoman accused Casey council of putting forward a weak case.
“This was absolutely a chance for the council to set a precedent,” she said.
“It was just an exercise in revenue raising for council and they are now seen to be doing something about it but at the end of the day the dogs are still there.”
But City of Casey Mayor Sam Aziz said council was also “disappointed” with the outcome.
“This case has been under intense public scrutiny and council has done everything it can within the law to ensure justice was served,” Cr Aziz said.
“Unfortunately, the penalty does not reflect the quantity and seriousness of the breaches, nor does it reflect the sentiment of the community.
“Unfortunately, this ruling does not uphold our commitment to the cause and we’re sure many in the community will share our disappointment.”
