Dogs to be euthanised after court bids fail
TWOdogs responsible for savage attacks will be put down after High Court appeals by their owners failed.
In the first case, Brett Henry appealed an order to put down his american pit bull terrier Mitimiti after the dog bit aman’s arm in an Auckland park so aggressively the man needed stitches.
Henry had been walking Mitimiti in Craighaven Park in Blockhouse Bay off leash, and without amuzzle.
Henry had been drinking alcohol at the time, court documents show.
A fellow walker askedHenry why his dog was without a muzzle, which led to an altercation resulting in Henry hitting the man on the side of his head and Mitimiti sinking his teeth into the man’s right arm.
In March, Henrywas convicted in the Auckland District Court by Judge Ian Mill of owning a dog that attacked a person under the Dog Control Act 1996.
Henry failed to attend several subsequent hearings into Mitimiti’s fate and eventually the Auckland District Council decided the euthanasia of Mitimiti would go ahead.
Henry filed an appeal to the High Court citing Covid as the reason for his absences.
In his recently released judgment, Justice Simon Moore said Henry had failed to comply with court directions on no fewer than six separate occasions.
During the appeal Justice Moore examined photographs from the attack and said they revealed what appeared to be a recent and nasty series of lacerations.
This contradicted Henry’s vehement claims that the injuries were not fresh.
In addition, Justice Moore determined there was nothing exceptional about the circumstances of the attack, and so the appeal was dismissed.
Bro the Husky will also be euthanised as a result of lost appeals.
A separateHigh Court judgment shows he brutally attacked a small dog, resulting in its death, when on a run with owner Geraldus Regtien.
The small dog had been in the driveway of its owner’s property when Bro snatched it and shook it with his mouth, despite being on a leash attached to Regtien.
The small dog’s owner tried to save his pet but the dog’s injuries were so severe it had to be euthanised later that evening.
In February Regtien pleaded guilty in the North Shore
District Court to being the owner of a dog that attacked a domestic animal under the Dog Control Act 1996.
He was fined $550 and ordered to pay reparations of $171.40 The judge also ordered that his dog be destroyed.
He appealed the sentence and took the matter to the High Court.
His lawyer, Joanne Price, argued that the circumstances of the offence were exceptional, given that Bro was on a lead and the other dog was not, and it was that dog that approached Bro.
Price also claimed that the District Court judge failed to acknowledge that the likelihood of a similar attack by Bro, given the unusual circumstances, was small.
Justice Moore, stating that he could not be satisfied that Bro would not harm another animal in the same or similar circumstances, dismissed the appeal.