Lilydale woman sentenced after gruesome plan to sell dead man’s toes

A Lilydale woman who took human toes from dog vomit to sell on an online black market has avoided jail "by the barest of possible margins" for her macabre crime.

A Melbourne court was told Joanna Kathlyn Kinman collected bizarre items and previously sold stillborn pets through the "Bone Buddies Australia" Facebook group.  

She was employed at a Victorian animal shelter as a ranger when two dogs regurgitated the toes and other remains in February 2024.

They had been surrendered after the death of their owner, whose name was suppressed. He died of natural causes before the pets ate parts of his body.

Kinman faced Ringwood Magistrates Court on Monday, where she pleaded guilty to offensive conduct involving human remains.

Magistrate Andrew Sim sentenced her to an 18-month community corrections order, including 150 hours of community work.

"By the barest of possible margins you will not be going to jail today," the magistrate told her. 

"Your conduct would, in my view, arouse significant anger, resentment, outrage, disgust or repulsion in the minds of any reasonable person in the community."

The 48-year-old was not required to speak during her appearance.

Police prosecutor Melissa Sambrooks said Kinman was not present when the dogs regurgitated the remains, but searched a wheelie bin looking for the toes.

"She located two human toes and took them home and placed them in a jar containing formaldehyde," Sambrooks said.

Later, during a phone call with her daughter, Kinman discussed how she planned to sell them online for as much as $400.

Police soon arrived at her Lilydale home after a tip-off from an unknown source.

Kinman made full admissions to possessing the remains and intending to sell them online.

She showed police where the jar with the toes was located, beside other oddities including an alligator claw, bird skull, guinea pig trotter and her children’s teeth.

Police found the mother-of-five was a member of the "Bone Buddies Australia" Facebook group, commonly used to buy, swap and sell specimens online.

Sambrooks said Kinman was an avid contributor to the site and had previously sold "wet specimens" of a stillborn kitten and puppy.

She did not say where those remains were sourced.

During her police interview, Kinman told officers she was curious about the toes and took them because "I know someone who collects weird things ... I thought ‘Cool, it's a toe’".

Kinman's lawyer Rainer Martini told Magistrate Sim his client had also been impacted by her "spontaneous" crime, including losing her job and having her name spread online.

"She has regretted fulsomely ... not just for herself but for the impact on the family of the deceased," he said.

Sim said it was "hardly surprising" Kinman, who had studied psychology as well as animal science, lost her job over the "entirely odd behaviour".

"I find it remarkable that someone of the accused's experience and education would not know it was an offence," he told the court. "It's astounding that she didn't understand taking two toes that had been vomited up by one or two dogs from a deceased person and [selling] them on the internet was the wrong thing to do."

He accepted Kinman had expressed remorse but said it wasn't a "momentary lapse of judgement".

She had been facing up to two years in prison, but the prosecutor and Kinman's lawyer agreed she should be assessed for a corrections order.

Image: AAP Image/Joel Carrett