Repeat offender canine ejected

A GERMAN shepherd that attacked two people at Kettering last summer has been exiled to Victoria, a court has heard.

Helen Lazarou, 61, was sentenced in the Hobart Magistrates Court on Wednesday after pleading guilty to eight charges, including three counts of being the owner of a dog at large and two counts of being the owner of a dog which attacks a person/animal (not serious).

The court heard all the charges but one related to three occasions when “dog W” escaped from Lazarou’s property on Ferry Road at Kettering.

Kingborough Council’s lawyer David Rees said dog W first escaped undetected from the backyard and attacked a woman while she was walking on Ferry Rd on December 30.

The woman suffered puncture marks, as well as associated pain, swelling and bruising on her upper thigh.

The following day the dog attacked a 14-year-old boy nearby, biting him on the right leg. Lazarou’s smaller German shepherd, known as “dog G”, was also at large at that time. The court heard neither the woman or boy required treatment.

A council officer visited Lazarou’s home and spoke with her husband and son about what had happened on January 2.

Six days later dog W again fled and lunged at a man several times while baring its teeth.

Mr Rees said Lazarou had no prior convictions in Tasmania but was issued with a penalty notice following an incident of a similar nature involving dog W in New South Wales in 2015. At that time, a direction was given to keep the dog muzzled when in public.

Defence lawyer Marc Edwards said Lazarou had taken “significant steps” to ensure the offending was unlikely to be repeated, including repairing the holes in the fence and permanently relocating dog W to Victoria “in good faith”.

He said the two German shepherds had arrived in Kettering less than a fortnight before the attacks and were still settling into their new home.

Magistrate Glen Hay said Lazarou “had the benefit of the warnings” that dog W “had the propensity to attack a person”.

“Given the nature of the dog and the requirement to wear a muzzle in public, I would have thought it was a reasonable undertaking for the owner of the dog to make every inquiry as to the means of escape from the property,” he said.

“On this occasion, she failed unreasonably to protect members of the public.”

Mr Hay recorded convictions against Lazarou on each of the charges to “mark the serious nature of the offences” but accepted it would be difficult for her to pay a fine.

He ordered Lazarou pay $1065.60 to Kingborough Council to cover the costs of the case.