Owner sentenced after pet launches ferocious attack

Man slammed by sheriff for putting 77-year-old victim through trial ordeal after she was bitten by out of control German shepherd

A dog owner whose German shepherd pet attacked a 77-year-old neighbour has been sentenced in court.

The woman was attacked, bitten and badly injured by the ferocious dog outside her home.

James Thomson was found guilty of losing control of his pet, Rocco, at a trial last month.

When he returned to Dunfermline Sheriff Court for sentencing, Thomson was slammed for putting the victim through the ordeal of a trial.

Sheriff Craig McSherry said: “It was an appalling attack.”

He recalled that “even when shown photographs he insisted it had only been a scratch and she was making it up”.

The sheriff said it was “disgraceful” that the victim had been forced to go through the stress of giving evidence.

The sheriff imposed a community payback order with 240 hours of unpaid work. He rejected a Crown motion to ban Thomson from owning animals as the court heard he had a labrador which had not proved to be a danger.

At the trial, Thomson admitted he would not take Rocco out into the street or a park in case it attacked somebody. He only walked it around his garden and the communal area around his home.

The German shepherd had previously bitten a Scottish SPCA inspector and since being taken into kennels it has been highly aggressive and has bitten staff on several occasions.

Thomson, 52, of Bleachfield Court, Dunfermline, had denied that on September 29 at the rear gardens at his home, being the owner of a German shepherd, the dog was dangerously out of control whereby it ran towards Mary Grainger, circled around her, barked aggressively and bit her on the body, to her injury.

The victim had to be taken to hospital for treatment to her bite wounds and the court was shown photographs of the puncture marks and bruising.

Mrs Grainger told the court she was putting rubbish in her bin when the dog attacked her.

She said that after she was bitten, Thomson had come to her door and said, “You’re not going to have my dog put down because of a scratch.”

The witness went on, “The blood was running down my leg. I said, ‘That’s not a scratch’. I took my husband’s arm and shut the door.”

A destruction order was granted for Rocco following the trial.