…nor, it seems, his owner:
Postman John Grainger, 62, needed reconstructive surgery on his face after Joseph Bower's Staffordshire Bull Terrier, Bruno, attacked him in Chelmsford city centre, in August last year.
Bowers, 49, of Chelmsford, was given a nine month jail sentence, suspended for 18 months, and banned indefinitely from owning a dog.
But on Thursday, Chelmsford Magistrates' Court was told Bowers was seen on CCTV walking a dog near the undercover market in the city on April 10.
*sigh*
Hands up! Who’s surprised?
The CCTV operator alerted the police but, when an officer approached Bowers, he lied and said it must have been his "identical twin brother" who had been holding the dog.
It seemed he didn’t expect that one to hold water so has pleaded guilty. It’s now all in the mitigation:
In mitigation, Bower's counsel Paul Donnegan told the magistrates that his client had only been in custody of the animal for a short period of time.
He said: "This is about seven seconds he had custody of the dog. He is with another who has custody of the dog and the dog is unleashed, free at the side of the road where you cross to the market.
"Bowers picks up the dog's leash to stop him running out into the road and walks him across the road. It's as simple as that."
If it’s ‘as simple as that’ why did he try an imaginative twist on the SODDI defence when first questioned?
Bowers has been bailed until July 19 and will appear at Chelmsford Crown Court for sentencing.
I’ll be watching this one…
I reckon there is a national competition between defence lawyers as to just how much bullshit they can get a judge to swallow.
ReplyDeletePoor sod just doing a not brilliant job and getting on with life, weeks away from retirement and gets savaged by a dog owned by a non-productive member of society. For that he gets nine months suspended, stop the bastards benefits, and tell him that if he commits another crime it is the death sentence. Enjoy chappy your on your own.
ReplyDeleteNot good at all.
Bunny
If there is a defence lawyer award there should be an equal and opposite one for the prosecution lawyer who manages to persuade a magistrate that stepping on the cracks in the pavement is illegal, honest.
ReplyDelete"why did he try an imaginative twist on the SODDI defence ? " ..
ReplyDeleteWell, it was good enough for Gordon Brown, in fact it became his default setting .. so why not give it a run ?
"...owned by a non-productive member of society."
ReplyDeleteI suspect that's 'owned by a never-productive member of society'...
"If there is a defence lawyer award there should be an equal and opposite one for the prosecution lawyer who manages to persuade a magistrate that stepping on the cracks in the pavement is illegal, honest."
Following the example set by our masters, perhaps?