Monday 13 May 2013

I Know Every Dog Should Have Its Day In Court, But...

Wigan and Leigh magistrates decided the pit bull terrier Kilo, owned by Neil Gerrard did not have to be destroyed.
OK. Well, it is allowable under the useless Dangerous Dogs Act, though the animal has to be assessed as not posing a danger. As in this story.
Sgt Lee said: "Despite this being a banned breed of dog there were no complaints from local people concerning its behaviour and I had no reason to suspect that the owner was irresponsible."
Do we have the same reassurances from this owner in Wigan, then?
The court had previously heard how Gerrard had been walking the dog without a lead in Astley when it bounded across the road, ignoring all its owner’s commands, and sank its jaws into the neck of a shih-tzu, dragging the other animal out of its owner’s arms and on to the floor.
Oh. Clearly not.
Gerrard was also ordered to pay a compensation package totalling £1105, with payments being made to the owner of the injured shih-tzu and to an officer from Greater Manchester Police.
Gerrard was also ordered to obey a curfew between 8pm and 7am for two months and charged £150 in costs.
I wonder why he had to pay money to a policeman? And what he did to get a curfew imposed?

3 comments:

bella gerens said...

And there I was thinking there was nothing the police could do if the dog hadn't attacked a person...

JuliaM said...

It's all a mess.

We really have no standards for this sort of thing, it's very much a case of luck and chance which sort of 'justice' you get...

James Higham said...

with payments being made to the owner of the injured shih-tzu

There's something poetic about that line.