Woman allowed to withdraw guilty plea, go to trial on animal-cruelty charges

Sara Woodman of New Harbour is charged, for the second time, in connection with her horse, Deuce

A New Harbour, Trinity Bay, woman has been granted permission to change her guilty plea to animal-cruelty charges and go to trial.

Sara Woodman, 46, had argued in June that she had only pleaded guilty to allowing her horse to starve because she felt she didn’t have enough of a case and didn’t want to take her chances on getting jail time.

The horse, Deuce, was euthanized in April 2016 after authorities arrived at Woodman’s property with a search warrant and charged her with four criminal charges of wilfully causing an animal unnecessary suffering, and a similar violation of the Animal Health and Protection Act.

This is Woodman’s second time in court on charges related to Deuce.

She had been charged with animal-cruelty a couple of years earlier after the horse was found emaciated, but was cleared after trial. The horse, which had been given to its previous owner and recovered its health, was given back to Woodman in July 2015.

Woodman told the court she had called the provincial vet in April 2016 to attend to a sick calf. She said her former partner had been responsible for taking care of the animals, which, until they broke up a week earlier, she had visited once a week.

Woodman testified the vet immediately pointed to Deuce and said the horse was too thin.

After asking for advice on what to feed Deuce, Woodman said, she told the vet she would pick up the supplies in St. John’s the following week, and the vet told her she would check back after that. The sick calf was euthanized.

Authorities showed up a few days later and Deuce, reportedly undernourished and in poor condition, was also euthanized.

“I didn’t notice anything different about her than she ever was,” Woodman said Friday. “Maybe I didn’t do as much as I could have done, but I did not intentionally starve her.”

Woodman’s former lawyer, Patricia Kirby, testified she had explained to Woodman that the consequences of pleading guilty could include jail time. Woodman was prepared to acknowledge she had been reckless in allowing her ex-partner to improperly care for Deuce, Kirby said, and she entered a guilty plea in July 2018. Three months later, Woodman called to say she had reviewed the evidence and had done some internet research that indicated Deuce’s weight had been in the acceptable range, Kirby said.

Woodman told the court she had always maintained her innocence, but had pleaded guilty because she felt she would have a better chance at getting a lighter sentence.

“Why not maintain your guilty plea?” lawyer Jason Edwards who represented her on the application, asked.

“Because I’ve given it a lot of thought and basically I can’t plead guilty to something I didn’t do,” Woodman replied. “I’m not saying there wasn’t anything wrong with the horse, but I do not believe she was starved to death by myself or (my expartner).”

Having heard submissions on the application, provincial court Judge Paul Noble granted it, giving his decision in Harbour Grace Wednesday. Woodman is scheduled to go to trial on the latest charges at the end of January.