Elderly NSW woman admits to torturing animals
A 74-year-old woman has admitted to torturing animals, including a magpie found at her home with its beak cut off.
According to police, Brenda Dorothy Marney had captured the injured magpie and kept it at her home on NSW’s mid-north coast instead of taking it to a vet, effectively torturing the bird by not seeking treatment.
She pleaded guilty to six charges including committing an act of cruelty on a pelican, failing to provide veterinary treatment to an injured pelican and injured magpie to alleviate pain, not having a licence to keep wildlife and illegally possessing two magpies and a rainbow lorikeet.
Known as the “Bird Lady of Tuncurry”, Marney initially claimed that the incidents were a misunderstanding, despite reports she’d feed animals to gain their trust before taking them home and torturing them. The woman said she was trying to help a pelican which had a hook in its wing when police were called.
Marney had been held in custody since October 17 after breaching her bail conditions by approaching birds at a reserve.
She was released on bail on Wednesday and is set to be sentenced on Thursday.
Her husband Charles Marney has pleaded guilty to not having licence to keep wildlife and will also be sentenced on Thursday.