Animal smuggler Niall Cooke appeals fine after Western Australia cops catch him with turtle, snakes

A notorious animal smuggler has had thousands of dollars off his fines after one of Australia’s highest courts ruled his $45,000 penalty would be impossible to pay.

Niall Cooke, 30, faced off at South Hedland Magistrates Court in September last year, where he was fined $45,000 for hiding various reptiles, including a turtle, skinks and snakes, inside his car when police found it. stopped on the Great Northern Highway in Western Australia. in 2019.

Cooke was charged with a series of animal trafficking offenses after police and biodiversity officers found a black-headed python tucked into a pillowcase inside the center console of the Toyota Kluger and four spiny-tailed pygmy skinks tucked in the lining of a backpack next to a plate. tortoise.

Police also found another backpack in the trunk containing a deadly venomous Pilbara adder in a pot.

Cooke had not even begun to pay his $45,000 fine when he appealed in the Western Australia High Court this month.

Cooke had $28,000 of his fine reduced after a judge ruled it would have taken him 18 years to pay it off.

His lawyers argued that the penalty imposed on the animal smuggler by Judge Gavin Maclean was excessive.

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court agreed with Cooke’s claims and Judge Amanda Forrester reduced the fine to $17,000.

“A fine of $45,000 in total was completely beyond appellant’s ability to pay, either immediately or within a reasonable time,” Judge Forrester told the court.

“Even if you were able to resume your payments as previously scheduled, it would take you 18 years to pay off that sum, let alone the other outstanding penalties.”

Judge Forrester said the crimes appeared to be “opportunistic” and the animals had only been with Cooke for a few days.

“One had been in appellant’s possession for up to four days, but others had only been in appellant’s possession for one or two days,” he said.

Cooke’s lawyers told the court that his motives for keeping the animals were strictly for photographic purposes, claiming that he only wanted to take pictures of the reptiles before releasing them.

Justice Maclean disputed this claim, telling the court during his verdict that he believed Cooke wanted to keep the wildlife.

“The whole intent in taking these animals was to keep them and that is the basis on which he will be sentenced,” Maclean J. said in his September 2022 judgment.

A black-headed (stock) python was found tucked into a pillowcase inside the center console of the car

Police also found another backpack in the trunk containing a highly venomous Pilbara death adder (stock) in a pot.

Before his September conviction for snake and turtle smuggling, Cooke told ABC in May 2018 that he was on a better path and was trying to stay out of court.

“I got caught, I’m paying the price, I’m paying the fines and now there’s a whole new chapter in life,” Cooke said. ABC 7.30.

His 2019 conviction marked the third time in five years that Cooke had been sentenced for animal smuggling in Australia.

His rap sheet includes more than 40 charges.

One of his most serious convictions relates to him boxing up various reptiles and shipping them from Western Australia to Melbourne in January and June 2014.

Cooke was indicted on further charges in 2016 and 2017 stemming from the Wildlife Conservation Act for allegations of smuggling 80 illegal reptiles.

Magistrate Maclean warned Cooke that if he continued to smuggle animals, he could soon be sent to jail.

‘That’s something you might want to consider, in addition to your activities as an animal advocate, Mr Cooke. If you continue, you will go to jail,’ he said during his September 2022 verdict.

“In the future, if he engages in behavior like this, in my opinion, he should certainly be charged with animal cruelty, which carries a real prison sentence.”

Cooke was found with a plate of turtle food (stock) stuffed in his car less than a year after telling ABC he was done with animal smuggling.

Four pygmy spiny-tailed skinks (stock) were tucked into the lining of a backpack next to the turtle on the plate