Vicky Young to pay £2,000 compensation after bulldog mauling left friend wheelchair bound

UNITED KINGDOM -- A MUM-OF-THREE sobbed as a judge ordered her American bulldog to be put down after it attacked her friend.

Vicki Young, aged 37, of Port Tennant, must also pay her dog's victim Nicola Lannen £2,000 as the mauling has left her in a wheelchair.

Young pleaded guilty at Swansea Magistrates' Court to being the owner of a dog dangerously out of control causing injury.

Chunk, the dog, faces destruction after, on February 2, it attacked Ms Lannen, when she visited Young at her Ysgol Street home, to inquire about taking one of a litter of puppies.

Young — who the court heard remains friends with the claimant — will now have to pay £2,000 to compensate for Ms Lannen's injuries.

Prosecuting, Sharon Anderson said: "It was arranged the claimant could go to the house to view the puppies."

On Ms Lannen's arrival, the court heard, she asked whether Chunk was friendly, to which Young had said she was "fine".

But the court heard that Chunk had escaped from the living room and rushed up to Ms Lannen, latching onto her left calf.

"I shouted, 'it's got me'," said Mrs Anderson, reading from Ms Lannen's victim statement.
"Vicki laughed and said 'it's saying hello'."

It was only after that, the court heard, that Young realized her dog had bitten Ms Lannen, and pulled it away.

The bite has caused infections for the victim, and meant she could only leave the house in a wheelchair, and must use a Zimmer frame in the house, the prosecutor said.

The court heard the wound was so serious that a skin graft may not hold, leaving Ms Lannen with "large and noticeable" scarring.

Reading from the victim statement, Mrs Anderson said the bite had a negative impact on Ms Lannen's quality of life.

"I fear what may happen if the infections continue to occur," she said. "I cannot understand why Vicki didn't place her dog in a locked room."

In Young's defense, the court heard she was devastated her dog had attacked the victim.

She claimed Chunk had never snapped at anybody before, and had always shown affection to other people.

  

Her solicitor, Nick Stallard, said: "The only explanation she can give is the dog felt her puppies might have been in danger. The dog, in her words, 'acted out of character'."

Sentencing, District Judge Richard Williams said: "Personal culpability is extremely low. She couldn't have foreseen that it was going to happen, but the damage and the pain it has caused cannot be underestimated."

Young sobbed as the judge told her Chunk must be destroyed.

"You have children in this household," he said. "Imagine if it was one of them — this is not an animal that can be trusted."

Young must serve a community order for 12 months, which includes a requirement of 160 hours of unpaid work. Court costs and surcharge were removed on account of the £2,000 compensation she must pay to Ms Lannen.

(South Wales Evening Post - ‎May 7, 2015‎)