Killer dog owner sentenced

Culprit gets two years in prison for manslaughter caused by negligence

Two years in prison for manslaughter caused by negligence

A DUTCH man has been sentenced to two years in prison for manslaughter caused by gross negligence, following a ferocious dog attack which caused a man’s death.

The body of 76-year-old Luis Ángel Sala was discovered by his son in an orange grove in Beniarbeig in February 2017.

After his son had called the Guardia Civil, it was discovered that a pack of dogs which had escaped from his 48-year-old Dutch neighbour’s house had mauled Sala to death.

While investigating the death, the Guardia visited the man’s house, where the five dogs were being kept. No dog had any bloodstains, but one of them was wet, seemingly after being washed. The owner had claimed at the time that it had fallen into the pool. The Guardia took the dogs away, all of whom were very aggressive. Three of the five dogs subsequently escaped from kennels where they were being held in Els Poblets and attacked a resident.

The dogs had not been subjected to the minimum veterinary checks, and were not trained; the owner also had neither insurance nor a license to keep dangerous dogs.

A judge originally ordered the man’s arrest after it was discovered that the dogs, a mixture of pit-bull and bull-terrier cross breeds, were found to have the deceased man’s DNA in their mouths. Originally, the owner had strenuously denied his animals were the culprits.

Along with the prison sentence, the court imposed an indemnity of €170,000 for the widow and three children of the victim.