Owner cleared of dog attack on neighbour
UNITED KINGDOM -- A woman has been cleared of allowing a “dangerously out of control” dog to attack one of her neighbours.
It took a jury in Oxford Crown Court just 50 minutes yesterday to find Deborah Exley, of Witney Road, Ducklington, not guilty after a three-day trial.
The 50-year-old denied being in charge of a dog that caused an injury while dangerously out of control in a public place on August 3 last year.
It had been alleged that her dog Diesel attacked Michael Hobin, who lives nearby, injuring him and his labrador Harry while they were walking in Witney Road.
He told the jury that first the animal “lunged” at him, biting his hand as he raised it to defend himself, before going for Harry.
Mr Hobin said: “It attacked my dog. It jumped on his back and it proceeded to rip his ears off.
“It tried to rip the ears of my dog off and rip its throat out. That all happened in the first 30 seconds or so.
“My dog was whelping and screaming and part of its ear was in the other dog’s mouth. There was blood on its face.
“I would describe it as having bulging eyes. It was absolutely deranged.”
He explained how passersby had helped pull the dog off and he rushed his pet to a veterinary hospital.
But the jury heard expert evidence from clinical animal behaviourist and vet Kendal Shepherd, who carried out tests to see if the Staffordshire Bull Terrier was dangerous.
She gave evidence and said she had found “no concerns whatsoever” with regards to the dog’s behaviour towards people.
Google Kendal Shepherd and pit bull and look what pops up. Think maybe she was biased in favor of the pit bull. Also, notice she didn't say anything about the pit bull being a danger to everyone's pets or to the humans who try to save their attacking pets:
"...studies have shown that Pitbulls as a breed are considerably less likely to bite than many other breeds and compares favourably in tests with the Golden Retriever" - Kendal Shepherd, BVSc. CCAB, MRCVS, 16th April 2010
Dominic Benthall, defending, argued that the injury to Mr Hobin’s hand could have been caused when he punched the dog to make it stop attacking Harry.
During the trial Mr Hobin was also accused of trying to “humiliate” Mrs Exley by putting up posters near her house saying “Diesel is out” after police gave the dog back to her. He denied having a “vendetta” against her family and said Diesel had attacked his dog before.
The jury returned a unanimous verdict of not guilty.
(Oxford Mail - June 21, 2013)
