Teenage girl left ‘scarred for life’ in trampoline attack by dog called Chaos
A DOG called Chaos that burst into a garden and savaged a 13-year-old girl as she played on her trampoline was yesterday ordered to be put down.
Brian Ralph’s American Akita left the girl scarred for life, chewing through her trampoline and biting her 16 times before she escaped.
But Ralph denied a Dangerous Dogs Act charge, saying his 80-year-old grandmother was a ‘fit and proper’ person to care for the dog, described as ‘muscular and powerful’.
Margaret Deas had left the dog shut out in the garden in Methil, Fife, as she sat watching Emmerdale on TV, oblivithe ous to the attack the animal was carrying out yards away. Eventually an upstairs neighbour rushed to fend off the dog with a broom.
Yesterday, after a three-day trial, Ralph, of Methil, was convicted of owning a dog that was dangerously out of control last July.
Sheriff Jamie Gilchrist, QC banned him from being able to keep a dog for a year, ordered that Chaos be destroyed and told Ralph, 24, to pay £1,000 compensation to the girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons.
Speaking outside court, her mother said: ‘The destruction of dog is a godsend. His dad said he would welcome the dog back into the family. We were worried it would be back.
‘A simple “sorry” and the dog being destroyed would have done at the start. But to put my daughter through all that... My daughter is still seeing a psychologist and she will be scarred for life.
‘She’s lost confidence and doesn’t want to go out on her own. The dog could have killed her if the neighbour hadn’t intervened.’
The victim, now aged 14, told a trial at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court she thought she was going to die when Chaos attacked. She said the animal had chewed down a fence, squeezed into her garden and bit the trampoline fabric as she bounced on it.
She added: ‘He came up and jumped on top of me. Chaos was trying to bite me on my face. I put my hands up to protect myself and he bit my arms repeatedly.
‘I ended up with 13 bites on my left arm and three on my right. I was screaming and shouting for help. I thought I was going to die – I felt like I couldn’t breathe. When I took my jumper off, all I could see was bite marks and blood everywhere.’
Mrs Deas said she had left the dog outside her back door and ‘accidentally’ shut the door as she went in to watch TV.
Ralph denied knowing his dog had a ‘propensity’ for aggression.
Sheriff Gilchrist asked him: ‘Where did the dog’s name, Chaos, come from?’ Ralph claimed one of his children had come up with it, adding: ‘He was always up to mischief and stuff.’
The sheriff replied: ‘But you didn’t call him Mischief, you called him Chaos?’ Ralph replied: ‘Mischief doesn’t sound very...’ before failing to finish his sentence.
Defence solicitor Brian McCafferty said: ‘He doesn’t oppose the destruction of the dog.’
The sheriff told him: ‘Your dog caused very serious injuries to a child. People should not have these dogs unless they ensure they don’t pose a risk to others.’