AUSTRALIA -- Two men have been fined a combined total of more than $10,000 after three dog attacks in Knox last year.
Jamie Burchall, of Rowville, and Kane Spencer, of Greensborough, were prosecuted in the Ringwood Magistrates Court after three victims testified about the attacks.
Burchall was charged with two counts of not securely confining his dogs and three counts of failing to register a dog. He was also charged with being in control of a Staffordshire bull terrier-cross that attacked a person and another dog.
Spencer was charged with owning an animal that attacked a dog, following an incident last year.
Neither defendant appeared in court.
Rowville resident Adam Steninger told the court he was walking his blue heeler on Tuesday, July 17 last year near Vista Crescent when two dogs began to chase himself and his dog. "It took a bite out of my leg, it broke skin and there was blood." He said he spoke to residents of Vista Crescent after the attack and was told the dogs had a reputation for terrorising people.
Later that night, Michael Corcoran and his wife were walking their two dogs when one of the terriers launched at the couple's golden retriever.
"There was an almighty noise when I was trying to break the dogs up," Mr Corcoran told the court.
He separated the animals but the bull terrier again came "ferociously" at the golden retriever — "like it was trying to rip our dog apart".
He managed to get control of the bull terrier and tied it to a pole.
Burchall later arrived home and Mr Corcoran said the defendant conceded the bull terriers were his.
When Knox Council local laws officer Geoff Austin visited Burchall, the Vista Crescent resident claimed the dogs were registered with a Queensland council. An investigation found the dogs were not registered in either Queensland or Knox.
Burchall was convicted by magistrate Ian McGrane and fined $7000 plus costs.
In the case against Kane Spencer, the court heard that his Staffordshire terrier-cross attacked Paul Shelton's 'poodle-type dog' in Pearl Place, Ferntree Gully on Friday, August 10 when the terrier began barking at the pair from behind a fence. Mr Shelton said he kept walking but then the dog "came out of nowhere".
"I picked up my dog but the other one latched onto his rear hindquarter, so they were both in the air."
Spencer then came running out of the property and Mr Shelton's dog ran off.
When the council's local laws officer Deborah Williams visited Spencer, he became "stand-offish" after he was told an investigation would be launched, the court heard.
Spencer told Ms Williams he had relinquished ownership of the dog the day after the attack. Spencer was fined $3000 plus costs for the attack and failing to register his dog.
(knoxweekly.com.au - April 3, 2013)
