Guilty plea in dog attack death case
A man whose dog killed a baby has admitted a charge over the ‘‘truly tragic’’ incident.
He was in an on-again, offagain relationship with the infant’s mother, the court heard, and helped bring the baby to its Hamilton home the day before the October 2020 attack. The next day, he left when friends of the mother arrived, and the rottweiler remained in her care.
That evening, October 25, the dog took the day-old baby from his bassinet and attacked him while his mother was in the bathroom, the court heard.
She heard a cry, discovered him missing, and found him at the back of the property with apparent injuries.
The baby boy died two days later inWaikato Hospital.
The dog owner, who has name suppression, pleaded guilty last Wednesday to owning a dog that causes serious injury or death. It was the day he was due for a judge-alone trial in Hamilton District Court.
The 22-year-old didn’t show up in the morning, with Judge Jonathan Down noting it was a ‘‘truly tragic’’ incident, and he was sure the man was struggling with the idea of facing trial on it.
Family members searched for the man and an arrest warrant was issued. He was found and brought to court by the afternoon.
‘‘He wants to see this over and done with, and resolved. And I think everybody can see why,’’ defence counsel Scott McKenna said.
‘‘On that basis, he intends to change his plea to one of guilty.’’
McKenna indicated he would seek permanent name suppression for his client.
The judge noted that interim name suppression would continue until sentencing, and entered a conviction.
The man was remanded on bail until his sentencing, on April 7.
In the days after the dog’s attack, a neighbour who arrived at the scene soon after told Stuff the baby ‘‘obviously meant the world’’ to his mother.
Karen, who didn’t want her last name used, had been shown the boy earlier in the day, after twice helping retrieve the rottweiler after it escaped the fenced property.
When she heard a commotion down the street that evening, she thought the dog had escaped again and maybe been hit by a car, she told Stuff.
On approaching, she encountered a ‘‘horrible’’ scene: the new mother on the grass verge, holding her injured baby.
‘‘I sat beside the mother and put my arm around her,’’ she said. ‘‘He was just so little.’’
The dog concerned was put down on December 22, after the man signed it over to animal control.