Maddison Leagh Ann Rule will return to court for her sentencing later in September. Photo: Albert McKnight.
A magistrate has found a woman guilty of animal cruelty after she stomped on her pet dog then told it, “That’s what you get”.
Maddison Leagh Ann Rule, aged in her early 30s, faced an ACT Magistrates Court this Monday and Tuesday (8-9 September) to fight the allegations.
The court heard in January 2025 that her pitbull, which was called Cardi, bit her on her arm, so she threw it through the air to shake it off.
A neighbour at her apartment block heard barks or whelps before seeing the 23 kg dog flailing through the air so he began recording a video.
Magistrate Alexandra Burt said the video showed Rule moving towards the dog on her balcony, then applying “a considerable degree of force” to the dog when stomping on it.
“Don’t f-ing do that to me,” Rule told the dog.
“That’s what you get you f-ing piece of s-t.”
Police officers arrived to see blood in her apartment. In court, the officers said they did not know whose blood it was, but they didn’t think it came from the dog.
Rule’s lawyer, Gillian Bilton of Legal Aid, said her client claimed she had been bitten by her dog twice, fell through her screen door, then threw it to dislodge it.
She claimed the dog returned with its teeth bared and she was afraid for her safety so she kicked it.
Records showed Rule sought medical assistance for dog bite injuries five days later.
Ms Bilton argued the dog attacked her client and the latter acted in self-defence.
She noted a vet told the court pitbulls were tough animals that were bred for aggression.
The vet didn’t examine the dog until five days after the incident and couldn’t identify any real injury.
But she also said the video of the incident recorded the dog making a high-pitched bark that didn’t sound aggressive and was consistent with it being in pain.
Magistrate Burt criticised parts of the prosecution’s case because police didn’t photograph the injuries to Rule’s hand and there was no analysis of the blood at the scene.
But she was also concerned about Rule’s credibility and said she lied to police.
“Her evidence was changeable about a number of things,” she said.
Magistrate Burt accepted Cardi bit Rule on the arm before the video was filmed and found it was not unreasonable to have had to throw the dog through the air to shake it off.
But she also said the throwing of the dog meant it was some distance away from Rule and she could have retreated inside her apartment and closed the door, while the video showed her moving towards the dog.
“The level of aggression in terms of what you say and how you act was not reasonable,” Magistrate Burt told her.
She was not satisfied the act of throwing Cardi was cruel, but was satisfied the act of stomping on the dog was likely to have caused it pain and was cruel.
“There is a ring of retaliation,” she said.
Rule was found guilty of a charge of cruelty to an animal. She will be sentenced on 23 September.
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