Fine after dog rips into bicep

Guilty plea over pet's attack on woman

A TINDERBOX woman almost had herb ice pt or no ff in a dog attack at her own property, a court has heard.

Dale Coleman, 45, pleaded guilty in the Hobart Magistrates Court to one count of keeping a dog over the age of six months which is unregistered, and one count of being the owner of a dog which attacks a person/animal causing serious injury.

The court heard on July 30, 2019, Coleman was at a property on Tinderbox Road, Tinder box, to do stump grinding.

He had his 65kg French mastiff dog named Diesel at the site.

The victim was patting the dog and when she tried to wipe slobber off her hand on to its back, the dog bit her on the right upper arm. A witness to the incident told a Kingborough Council officer the dog “practically tore the victim’s bicep off”.

The court heard the council first received a call about the incident from a paramedic who treated the victim. The paramedic said he was concerned it would not be reported as the female victim had said she did not wish to and did not want the dog to be hurt.

A statutory declaration from the paramedic said it was a significant injury and a similar wound on a critical area such as the neck could have been fatal. The injuries required surgery and a two-night stay in hospital.

The court heard Coleman had not witnessed any aggressive behaviour from the dog before or after the incident and he had since taken it to training and muzzled it when taking it out in public.

Magistrate Glenn Hay said the case showed all members of the community needed to be careful when dealing with animals.

“Dogs are inherently dangerous animals–when you pat them, you never know exactly what is going to happen,” hesaid.

Mr Hay said Coleman had taken steps to get the dog trained and he had personally not acted recklessly.

Coleman was convicted on the dog attack charge and fined $500, while no conviction was recorded for the unregistered dog charge, but he received a further $100 fine.

He was also ordered to pay the Kingborough Council’s legal costs.