Repeat animal cruelty offender Kon Petropoulos, 63, has been fined $9000 and banned for 10 years from owning or selling cats after pleading guilty in Ballarat Magistrates’ Court to 10 charges linked to running a non-compliant animal business and selling kittens in unauthorised places.
The court heard that between October and December 2022, Petropoulos advertised purebred kittens on Gumtree for pick-up in North Melbourne, West Melbourne and Ballan, using prepaid debit cards, aliases and a phone registered in another person’s name.
Some cats, sold for up to $3250, lacked microchips or health documentation.
One kitten had been bred in Queensland, with flights from Brisbane carrying Ragdoll, Burmese, Tonkinese and Russian Blue cats that he later sold.
RSPCA prosecutor Krystyna Grinberg cited his “lengthy” history and “continued illegal behaviour despite multiple arrests, execution of search warrants, court attendances, [and] breaching of adjourned undertakings.” Since 2020, he and his wife Liudmila have accrued more than 100 convictions.
Petropoulos has also been convicted over a 2020 dog attack and, most recently, in August 2025 was found guilty of cruelty for failing to provide his dog proper veterinary treatment. He is awaiting sentence for that matter.
His lawyer said Petropoulos was “impecunious” and unable to complete a community corrections order due to health issues, arguing his ability to pay fines was “challenged.”
Prosecutors said a fine would have “very little impact,” adding: “If Your Honour were to simply impose another fine, the punishment … would be negligible.”
The new 10-year ban will run concurrently with an existing County Court order and conclude in 2036. Liudmila Petropoulos will return to court on March 12.
Source: Herald Sun.
