Christina Julian Mikkelsen
On 16 January 2023 Magistrate Duncan Fairley handed down his decision in the case brought by RSPCA against Christina Mikkelsen of Devonport.
The charges concerned 3 dogs, all of which were said to be undernourished. One of the dogs also had a severe spinal condition which ultimately led to it being euthanased.
Magistrate Fairley had heard the evidence against Ms Mikkelsen in August and October in 2022, and had found her guilty of all the charges on 8 December 2022. The evidence included substantial and detailed evidence from the veterinary surgeons who had examined the dogs. Ms Mikkelsen had claimed that the emaciated state of one of the dogs, Bella, was because she was suffering from a pancreatic disorder.
The veterinary evidence was not consistent with this. Ms Mikkelsen also claimed that she was feeding the dogs properly.
In his reasons, Magistrate Fairley said regarding Ms Mikkelsen’s evidence that he could not accept she was a witness of the truth. Her evidence, he said, was neither internally consistent nor consistent with the objective evidence presented by the RSPCA prosecution.
Magistrate Fairley sentenced Ms Mikkelsen on 16 January 2023. He recorded a conviction on all charges, and said that a defendant’s lack of means was not an excuse for not looking after the dogs. He imposed a term of imprisonment of 8 weeks, wholly suspended.
He also disqualified Ms Mikkelsen from having the charge of any animal for a period of 10 years.
