Drunk couple and their friend blamed after dog attacked when it was teased and threatened with a kitchen knife

PAIR WARNED THEY COULD HAVE BEEN JAILED OVER BAD BITES

A couple whose British bulldog attacked their friend on two separate occasions blamed both incidents on the fact they had all been drunk at the time.

Sarah Bowmar and her partner Paul Goodman would drink every Friday night with their friend Michael Simon at their Birstall home.

On Friday, July 11 last year, Mr Simon was bitten by three-yearold bulldog Harley while he was “teasing” the dog with pizza, a court heard.

For that incident, Bowmar, 41, was charged with having a dog dangerously out of control and allowing it to cause an injury.

On Friday, January 15 this year, the trio were drunk once again and this time Mr Simon approached the dog with a kitchen knife and it bit him again.

Goodman, 50, was charged with the same offence as his partner for that incident, which left Mr Simon with a deep cut to his wrist.

Bowmar and Goodman both appeared at Leicester Magistrates’ Court having pleaded guilty to the charges.

The court heard that police became involved after the second incident when the ambulance service told officers they had been called to the couple’s home in Denegate Avenue and were taking Mr Simon to hospital.

Bowmar, who was drunk, told the police she had also been bitten by Harley earlier and that the dog had broken both her wrists on previous occasions.

However, once she had sobered up, she admitted that was a lie.

Goodman refused to speak to the police who attended and Harley was seized by officers.

Mr Simon spent four days in hospital, having his right hand tendons fixed and a metal pin put in his thumb.

He told police that in the previous attack in July 2020, Harley had broken his wrist and he had spent five or six days in hospital.

Goodman and Bowmar both later pleaded guilty on the basis of their own statements about what happened on the two occasions.

Prosecutor Andrew Conboy read out Goodman’s basis of plea statement about the latest incident, which said: “All three of us had been drinking.

“I went to the toilet and when I returned, Mick was tapping a carving knife on the kitchen floor near where Harley was and he went towards Harley.”

He said the next thing he knew, Mr Simon had been bitten.

A basis of plea statement from Bowmar about the first incident in July last year said Mr Simon was “teasing Harley with pizza”.

Stephen Langton, representing the couple, said they both regretted what had happened and that while Mr Simon still visited every Friday, they had both quit drinking.

He said Goodman ran a ventilation business and that Mr Simon worked for him, so jailing Goodman would result in Mr Simon and 15 other people losing their jobs.

District Judge Nick Watson told the couple that while Mr Simon’s actions had contributed to what happened, so had theirs.

He said: “The Crown accept Mr Simon was teasing Harley on the first occasion and on the other occasion was threatening Harley with a knife.

“That behaviour may well have contributed to the way the dog behaved but neither of you stopped Mr Simon behaving the way he did or stopped him being with the dog and your behaviour yourselves seems to have contributed.

“The fact you were both drunk makes this more serious.

“The injuries on both occasions were very significant to Mr Simon.”

He said that because Mr Simon’s actions were a “significant contributing factor” the offences were at the bottom end of the scale and that they would not go to prison immediately.

He sentenced both to 20 weeks’ imprisonment, suspended for a year, plus a 20-week curfew requiring them to stay at home between 7pm and 7am every day.

Both were ordered to pay £85 court costs and a £128 victim surcharge and Goodman – as the only earner – was told to pay £1,000 compensation to Mr Simon and £3,207 to the police to cover the costs of looking after Harley since January.

District Judge Watson told them they were lucky not to be going straight to prison for the offences.

He said: “They are very serious injuries by a dog you really should have been controlling better, knowing his temperament.”

Harley will be rehomed by a specialist organisation and the pair were not banned from keeping pets, which would have required them to give up their other dog, a Shar Pei cross.