A destruction order under the Dangerous Dogs Act was passed in court this week after an incident where a Jack Russell Terrier cross attacked two pensioners in Pembroke, leaving one of them requiring surgery for a serious leg bite and the other with a fractured shoulder after falling over.
Forty-two-year-old Linzi Marie James, of Whitehall Avenue, appeared at Haverfordwest Magistrates Court, on Tuesday, to plead guilty to a charge of being the owner of a dog which was dangerously out of control.
Prosecutor Vaughan Pritchard-Jones told the court that the incident occurred on Wednesday, July 12, when three dogs belonging to Mrs. James escaped from her garden and one of the dogs, named Toddy, attacked two of her neighbours.
“Mrs. Hazel Roberts was in her house with her husband when she heard the dogs and saw them running around on her lawn,” he explained.
“Her garage door was open so she went to close it as she didn’t want the dogs to get in.
“One was already in the garage, and when she shooed it away, it came towards her with its teeth bared and lunged at her, to try and bite her leg. It only grazed Mrs. Roberts’s leg, but she fell over and landed on her right shoulder.
“The dogs ran off and Mrs. Ann Adams, who also lives nearby, was in her back garden painting when she heard the screams from her neighbour.
“Next she saw three dogs running towards her, and one of them, which was the same dog that attacked Mrs. Roberts, came towards her and she felt a sharp sting to her lower leg.
“She told her husband the dog had bitten her and taken a chunk out of her leg and the injury was so gruesome that he immediately drove her to Withybush Hospital. As he drove by Mrs. James’s house, he could see that her front door was wide open,” continued Mr. Pritchard-Jones.
The court was shown photographs of the victim’s injuries, with Mrs. Roberts fracturing her right shoulder, and Mrs. Adams being transferred from Withybush to Morriston Hospital as she required a skin graft.
“Mrs. Roberts is still having weekly physio sessions for her shoulder and still gets significant pain, so much so, that she is some times unable to sleep at night,” continued Mr. Pritchard Jones.
“Mrs. Adams will have to apply creams to her leg for the rest of her life following her skin graft and has been told that she must never expose the bite to direct sunlight.
“The crown prosecution service has applied that the destruction order be immediate as the dog in question attacked two people in close succession and due to the nature of the injuries caused.
“It is a danger to the general public and it is not the first time that there has been an incident with this same dog, as in January 2015, it bit a post woman. There have also been a number of reports of the owner’s dogs running around the streets loose,” added Mr. Pritchard-Jones.
Probation officer Julie Norman told the court that she had interviewed the defendant who was ‘extremely remorseful’ and found the whole matter ‘very upsetting’.
She said that the dog in question was 10-years-old and she had owned it for five years. Mrs. James has since made adaptions to her garden to secure and raise the fence to stop her dogs from breaking out the court heard.
Defence solicitor Mike Kelleher said that if his client could turn back the clock she would.
“Mrs. James told me that she can’t believe that she is responsible for two people being hurt, as she has never hurt anyone in her entire life,” he said.
“She admits that it was her fault that the dogs got out as she had left pallets in a position on the fence where they could get over it.
“The injuries caused to the victims were unforeseen, and it’s an absolute tragedy what has happened here. There must be thousands of incidents across the UK where dogs break out unexpectedly.”
Mr. Kelleher told the court that a report from an independent expert recommended that a number of conditions could be put in place to protect against anything like this happening again, including muzzling the dog and making sure it is taken everywhere on a lead.
“The report has asked that if all conditions are carried out that there by no need for an immediate destruction order to be undertaken,” he added.
Magistrates ordered that an immediate destruction order be passed for the dog, as they believed it to be a danger to the public.
Mrs. James was given a 12 month community order with a requirement of 100 hours of unpaid work, and ordered to pay prosecution costs of £85 and an £85 victim surcharge.
The two complainants were awarded compensation, with £2,500 going to Mrs. Adams and £1,500 to Mrs. Roberts.FOOTNOTE: The order was passed that the dog be destroyed unless an appeal is lodged by the owner within the next 21 days.