Pit bull dragged girl, clamped jaw around throat, mother testifies

LONGUEUIL A Quebec girl who was allegedly mauled by a pit bull-type dog was dragged several metres by the face across a park in September 2015, her mother told court Monday.

Magdalena Biron said the attack left her daughter Vanessa, who was seven at the time, with fractures to the cranium and hand, as well as a cheekbone broken in seven pieces.

The girl’s face was partially paralyzed and she has damage to her salivary glands and auditory canal, Biron testified.

Karim Jean Gilles stands accused of criminal negligence causing bodily harm after one of his two dogs allegedly attacked the girl in a park in Brossard.

“The smaller of the dogs bit Vanessa,” Biron said, adding her daughter tried to protect herself with her right hand. The dog’s jaw, Biron said, was also clamped around Vanessa’s throat.

“I jumped to protect (Vanessa) with my body,” Biron said. “I put my hands around my head and I felt (the dog ’s) teeth on my head.”

After police received an emergency call, they arrived at a home where Gilles lived with his mother. Gilles allegedly refused at first to co-operate with police, who used a battering ram against the front door.

Biron said she arrived at the park with her two daughters and immediately noticed a woman with two pit-bull-type dogs that weren’t collared, leashed or muzzled. The woman was identified by another witness as the accused’s mother, Hyacinth Parker.

A neighbour who testified at the trial said he saw Gilles attempting to subdue one of the dogs after the alleged attack. It was unclear at what time he arrived to the park.

Another neighbour, Neil Alexander, testified his dog was savagely attacked by one of Gilles’s animals a few months before Vanessa was bitten. Alexander said he filed a complaint with the city and the police.

A city employee told the court Monday Gilles registered a dog called Ashes in 2014 and another one, named Jordan, in 2013.

His two animals have been euthanized.

Crown prosecutor Claudie Gilbert completed presenting her evidence on Monday.

Gilles, who is representing himself, did not question any of the Crown’s witnesses and is not expected to call any witnesses.

He is supposed to tell the court on Tuesday whether he’ll testify.

Gilles faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted.