Bega Valley's Janice Denny has jail time reduced on appeal over animal cruelty charges

Janice Denny’s appeal result was announced in the Sydney Downing Centre. Photo: Facebook, Downing Centre Court.

A Bega Valley woman sentenced to jail on animal cruelty charges earlier this year has won a reduction in the time she has to serve in prison in a successful appeal.

In March 2023, the Bega Local Court sentenced Janice Louise Denny, who is also known as Janice Northey, to a total of 15 months’ jail with a non-parole period of six months.

Her convictions included being in charge of an animal and failing to provide vet treatment, failing to provide proper and sufficient food to an animal, committing an act of aggravated cruelty on an animal and failing to comply with a court order regarding the possession of an animal.

But Denny, who had been taken into custody, appealed her sentence to the NSW District Court.

She appeared over audio-visual link in the Sydney Downing Centre last week (14 June) where Judge John Pickering upheld her appeal.

She was resentenced to a total of nine months’ jail with a non-parole period of three-and-a-half months, which meant the time she must serve in custody was almost halved.

The 61-year-old from Tantawangalo will now be released on parole on 30 June.

Judge Pickering also reduced her community corrections order from three years to one, which ends in June 2024.

However, the judge ruled she still must pay $452,623 in expenses for animal care as well as $23,288 in professional costs to the RSCPA.

She also still must forfeit 45 horses and ponies as well as dispose of any horses or ponies still in her care within a month after she is released from custody and cannot buy or keep an animal for 10 years.