A Coleraine court has heard how a woman had to receive treatment following a dog attack on the Charles\High Street area of Ballymoney in March last year.
The woman had been out walking when she was bitten on the arm by a Tibetan Mastiff approaching from the opposite direction, being led by a man followed by the defendant, also walking a smaller dog.
The victim’s injuries required further treatment at the hospital, where she received stitches and a tetanus injection, including a course of antibiotics.
Appearing at Coleraine Magistrates’ Court on Friday (February 3), Sharon Carmichael of Knock Eden Avenue Ballymoney was being prosecuted by Causeway Coast & Glens Council for being the keeper of the dog involved in the attack.
The defendant’s dog – which had previously been reported for another incident but not prosecuted – was party to a control condition requiring it to be muzzled when out in public, but on this occasion, it was unmuzzled.
Carmichael tool the court that the dog’s muzzle had broken when she was putting on its lead, and because it was a Sunday and there was “no one about”, they went on ahead to walk their dogs with the Tibetan Mastiff unmuzzled.
The defendant further told the court that they didn’t see the victim coming and that the attack “wasn’t an aggressive thing” but “more a fear thing”. Immediately following the attack, the court also heard that the defendant went to the victim’s house, who lived close by, and offered her a lift to the hospital as she didn’t drive.
District Judge Peter King voiced concern that this was the second incident involving the dog and that the latest victim required hospital treatment, saying, “if there’s a third incident with this dog, the court is going to take a very dim view about the ability of this dog to remain in your care”.
Judge King imposed a fine of £200, an offender’s levy of £15, court costs of £38 and legal fees of £78 on Carmichael. The defendant was also ordered to pay compensation of £250 towards the victim.
