A woman who inflicted pain on a dog stormed off in court after a magistrate told her she may need soul searching because of her "very troubling" inability to "regulate her conduct".
Julie-Anne Kathleen Collett last May threatened to throw out another woman's dog because it had defecated next to a door in Canberra, facts tendered to the ACT Magistrates Court state.
The offender, 26, then grabbed the dog, saying "I'm getting this f------g dog out now".
At one stage, she slipped on the dog faeces but continued to hold the animal around its neck before finally letting go after the owner kept yelling.
She came back to the premises about 15 minutes later to smash the locked screen door and punch the dog owner in the head numerous times.
While on bail in February, Collett resisted a police arrest and used her legs to block the door of a caged police car as she was forced inside.
Officers warned her about using capsicum spray on her to which she responded with: "f--k you, spray me".
She spat at police but missed. Police then used capsicum spray on her.
She appeared in court on Wednesday after pleading guilty to hitting or kicking an animal, assault and destroying property.
She also entered the same plea for a fresh charge of resisting a police officer.
Magistrate Louise Taylor said "she's got an appalling criminal history" and that her "inability to control or regulate her conduct" was "very troubling".
Ms Taylor said the need to deter Collett and "to protect the community loom very large in this sentencing exercise".
She said she would need to be satisfied of a community-based sentence as there would need to "be a regime in place designed to protect against her from being violent towards anyone".
"Because she struggles to control herself and that might require some soul searching," Ms Taylor said.
Collett responded with "I already have, your honour" before storming off through a security door then slamming it behind her while making comments.
After Collett left, Ms Taylor told her lawyer, Dean Sahu Khan, "you can certainly convey to her that it would take some persuasion that her sentence should be served in the community".
"A period of imprisonment is inevitable...it's just a matter of how it should be served," she said.
The magistrate said Collett "failed spectacularly" in relation to complying with bail and told Mr Sahu Khan that "exploration of residential rehab may be of some interest".
The case was adjourned to May to allow an assessment of Collett's proposed address as part of a community-based sentence.
