{"id":221046,"date":"2026-01-07T07:57:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T07:57:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/221046\/"},"modified":"2026-01-07T07:57:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T07:57:09","slug":"neglectful-dog-breeder-janine-wallace-fails-in-latest-bid-to-overturn-ban-convictions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/221046\/","title":{"rendered":"Neglectful dog breeder Janine Wallace fails in latest bid to overturn ban, convictions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wallace\u2019s mother, Barbara Glover, had been breeding the dogs for several years when Wallace became involved in the business after a failed real estate career<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Through the 2010s, Wallace was convicted of selling a $500,000 block of land and carparks in Auckland that she did not own.<\/p>\n

In 2017, the SPCA<\/a> began investigating Volkerson Kennels after receiving information regarding the mistreatment of animals.<\/p>\n

On October 12 of that year,<\/a> the SPCA walked the property with Wallace, observing dogs tethered to fences, housed in makeshift structures, or kept in unhygienic runs.<\/p>\n

They had already issued statutory notices requiring improvements which had not been met and found there was no point issuing another.<\/p>\n

\"JanineJanine Wallace outside her old apartment at Princes Wharf in 2009. Photo \/ NZME<\/p>\n

The following day, they returned with police, a vet and animal welfare staff.<\/p>\n

When Wallace asked whether they had a search warrant, inspectors told her they did not need one and cited the Animal Welfare Act, which allows warrantless entry for the purpose of inspecting animals.<\/p>\n

The search uncovered some of the most troubling scenes in the case.<\/p>\n

A pregnant dog, Debbie, was found locked in a small, dark utility shed, lying in her own faeces with an untreated ear infection.<\/p>\n

A dog named Ritza was found in an even worse condition, tied up in a haybarn with a chain tangled around her leg, cutting off blood supply.<\/p>\n

The dog was in such poor condition she had to be euthanised.<\/p>\n

The discoveries formed the basis of 17 charges, of which Wallace was convicted following a three-month judge-alone trial in 2022.<\/p>\n

Wallace was sentenced to 12 months\u2019 intensive supervision and 300 hours of community work, while Glover was sentenced to nine months\u2019 supervision.<\/p>\n

Both were disqualified from owning or exercising ownership of dogs for nine years.<\/p>\n

In 2023, Wallace took her case to the High Court, challenging both her convictions and sentence.<\/p>\n

\"BarbaraBarbara Glover, owner of Volkerson German Shepherd Kennels at P\u014dkeno, was banned from owning a dog for nine years. Photo \/ NZME<\/p>\n

Her appeal centred on two arguments: that SPCA body-camera footage should be admitted as fresh evidence because it would show a \u201cdifferent narrative\u201d about the dogs\u2019 condition, and that the trial judge had erred in preferring the SPCA inspectors\u2019 evidence over her own.<\/p>\n

Justice Paul Davison rejected both points, finding the footage did not meet the test for fresh evidence and the District Court\u2019s findings were sound.<\/p>\n

Wallace also appealed aspects of her sentence, arguing the nine-year disqualification from owning or controlling dogs was excessive and that the $20,000 costs order was unjustified.<\/p>\n

The High Court dismissed those challenges.<\/p>\n

Wallace later filed another appeal, submitting that the SPCA had breached her human rights during the second October 2017 search.<\/p>\n

Her lawyer at the time, Grant Fletcher, advised that the prospects of success were low, she would incur another $50,000 in fees, and the practical option would be to apply to have her disqualification cancelled after two years.<\/p>\n

Wallace told Fletcher the advice was \u201can excellent winning idea\u201d and instructed him to abandon the second appeal.<\/p>\n

However, it was that abandonment she recently tried to undo in the Court of Appeal.<\/p>\n

In submissions, her new lawyer, Ian Brookie, maintained that the search warrant was unlawful, and Wallace did not receive proper legal advice regarding her appeal.<\/p>\n

The Court of Appeal disagreed.<\/p>\n

In the recently released decision, the court ruled that Wallace had received detailed, competent legal advice which was understood and accepted.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have concluded Ms Wallace should be refused leave to withdraw her notice of abandonment,\u201d the court ruled.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not a case where the applicant had an absolute defence which was overlooked at trial or on first appeal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wallace\u2019s convictions and sentence \u2013 including her nine\u2011year disqualification from owning or controlling dogs \u2013 remain in place.<\/p>\n

Shannon Pitman is a Whang\u0101rei-based reporter for Open Justice covering courts in the Te Tai Tokerau region. She is of Ng\u0101puhi\/ Ng\u0101ti P\u016bkenga descent and has worked in digital media for the past five years. She joined NZME in 2023.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wallace\u2019s mother, Barbara Glover, had been breeding the dogs for several years when Wallace became involved in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":221047,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[74,15408,50,1060,26977,1040,8689,9525,13619,380,9219,9213,1332,71,49753,305,78,132867,700,6178,132866,132868,111,43,139,69,15359,76379,3178,115415,128549,61,13920,12884,3608],"class_list":["post-221046","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-after","tag-almost","tag-animals","tag-ban","tag-banned","tag-bid","tag-breeder","tag-caught","tag-convictions","tag-decade","tag-dog","tag-dogs","tag-fails","tag-from","tag-german","tag-have","tag-in","tag-janine","tag-latest","tag-mother","tag-neglectful","tag-neglecting","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-overturn","tag-overturned","tag-owning","tag-prohibition","tag-shepherd","tag-to","tag-tried","tag-wallace","tag-were"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221046","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=221046"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221046\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/221047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=221046"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=221046"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=221046"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}