Last month, Janice Louise Denny, also known as Janice Northey, was convicted in her absence of two charges of failing to provide proper and sufficient food to an animal as well as two charges of failing to provide vet treatment to an animal.

In late May she successfully applied for the conviction to be annulled, claiming her request to be posted court paperwork rather than emailed had been ignored by the RSPCA.

She then pleaded not guilty to the four charges.

The 58-year-old did not appear in Bega Local Court on Wednesday, May 24, with Magistrate Doug Dick saying she had sent a five-line email to the court registry that said she was "not well enough to be standing around in the cold" and he confirmed she had a medical certificate stating she was unwell.

However, Magistrate Dick questioned another component of her message, as in her email she said she had attached a copy of an application for Legal Aid.

He said a court registrar had contacted Legal Aid and was told no application had been received from Denny.

Magistrate Dick said he would not proceed in Denny's absence and adjourned the matter to July, saying she would be told she must attend at that time.

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