Owner told to bring dog licence to court

approached the gate of the house to ask that the car be moved.

She said that the dogs were barking. One was an alsatian type, and one a ‘skinny greyhound’.

‘I was outside the gate on the footpath. I went to approach the gate. The dogs were barking like mad. The skinnier of the two dogs put his head out the gate and bit me on the leg.’

She said Mr Murray’s sister came out of the house. She said that Ms Murray apologised when she saw the bite.

‘I attended Caredoc that night and got tetanus, the wound cleaned and a course of antibiotics.’

Mr Murray did not dispute that the dog bit Ms Green. However, he said that there had never been any incidents with delivery people or the postman. He said that the dog would often have been around young children at their house and he wouldn’t have kept a dangerous dog around them.

Garda Molly Corbett told the court that Mr Murray told her he had a dog licence but didn’t know where it was and never produced it. She said that the dog warden did not have a licence on file.

Solicitor Joe Maguire produced a licence, which he said was a renewal. He said that while his client had misplaced the original licence, he did have one at that time.

Mr Maguire argued that the state could not prove that Mr Murray had not held a dog licence. He also argued that because the dog was on Mr Murray’s property at the time of the incident, the legislation did not allow for the charge before the court of uncontrolled dog.

‘ The offence is that my client permitted the dog to be in a place other than his premises,’ said Mr Maguire. ‘My submission is that the dog never left the premises at any stage. The gate was never opened.’

Judge David Kennedy refused that application. ‘ The fact that the dog managed to put its snout through the gate and bite the lady is obviously a case where the dog is not under effectual control,’ he said. ‘ The gate was such that it did not keep him entirely within the premises. He was able to escape the premises to a certain extent, causing damage to a person.’

He adjourned the matter to April 24 for the defendant to produce a copy of a dog licence for the period in question.

Mr Murray said that the dog has been re-homed. He said that he thinks the new owner is in the Carnew area.