Man bites dog
The parish council chairman punched one of the terriers and bit its ear to drive it away
A MAN bit a dog to stop it attacking his puppy, a court heard yesterday.
In a demonstration of the aphorism for what is considered to be news, Anthony Gabbott, a parish council chairman, fought off two out-of-control Staffordshire bull terriers that were attacking his young Alsatian.
Mr Gabbott also suffered broken bones in his right hand after he repeatedly
punched one of the dogs in a bid to defend his puppy called Dougie.
Chester Crown Court heard Sarah Southern, the owner of the terriers, had ignored a court ruling ordering her to muzzle them and watched as they pounced on Dougie during an afternoon stroll.
The four-month-old puppy was dragged 12ft away from its master and badly mauled on the side of its face and also suffered fractured ribs. Mr Gabbott,
56, a certified financial planner for a wealth management firm and chairman of Plumley with Toft and Bexton parish council, punched one of the terriers and bit its ear in a bid to drive it away.
He was said to be “very upset and shaken up” after the incident on June 9 last year on a country lane in the village of Plumley, near Knutsford, Cheshire, and he went to hospital while vets carried out almost £2,000 worth of surgery
to save Dougie. Southern, 42, who runs her own mobile beauty salon, left the scene without giving her name but was traced after Mr Gabbott’s daughter posted an appeal on Facebook.
She had ignored a court ruling two months earlier to keep her dogs, Bear and Carly, on a lead and muzzled in public following a previous incident in which another man was bitten.
Prosecutors believe she had deliberately taken them for a walk 10 miles from her home in Winsford, Cheshire, in the hope the animals would not be recognised.
Southern admitted owning a dog dangerously out of control and causing injury and was sentenced to 12 months in jail suspended for two years. She was also ordered to pay the vet bill of £1,828 plus £750 compensation to Mr Gabbott, and banned from keeping dogs for life. It is understood the terriers have been transferred to a new owner.