Scars more than skin deep for girl mauled by dog fostered with family

Fifteen hours after a dog was placed into the home of an animal foster family, the mother heard a bark and a scream, then found her 4-year-old daughter had been mauled.

“She was holding her face. There was blood dripping on the couch and carpet,” the woman recalled of the July 7, 2021, attack by a male Rhodesian ridgeback bullmastiff cross named Scooby.

The attack began a painful, emotionally exhausting and financially draining journey for the girl and her family.

The woman recounted the ordeal in her victim impact statement at the sentencing of the We Love Dogs Charitable Trust, which admitted owning a dog that caused injury, in New Plymouth District Court.

Scooby was surrendered to the trust, which fosters and rehomes abandoned dogs across Taranaki, in March 2021, the court heard, after nine years with its former owners.

Scooby then spent two months living with a foster family while the trust tried to find him a permanent home.

During a two-week trial with a family that was given a muzzle because Scooby was “nervous in new places”, the family noted the dog growling at their cat before physically pinning it down.

The family returned the dog, concerned about its nature but later that day Scooby was fostered by the family of the 4-year-old girl.

The trust told them Scooby was “gentle but that he will greet people arriving with a bark before settling”.

The next day’s attack left the girl with lacerations to her face and upper lip.

The family’s GP cleaned the wounds and transferred her to Taranaki Base Hospital’s emergency department. Soon after, she was flown to Waikato Hospital for surgery with the plastics team.

The girl had further surgery in March this year to improve the scars and her smile.

She still requires silicone tape on her face for 23 hours of the day and daily massages. This will continue until the scars have completely healed, which will likely not be until late 2023.

As a result of the ordeal, the girl became withdrawn, she lacks trust, had a delayed start at school, and cannot go swimming or expose her face to sunlight. She will also need more surgery, the mother said.

“That dog should never have been dropped off, full stop, with my two young children.”

The woman said the attack, the road to healing, and the court proceedings had been stressful.

She felt the trust had shown little compassion about the impact on her child and had only cared about its own interests.

Defence lawyer Mark Anderson said the trust was devastated about what had occurred and was “deeply apologetic” to the family, adding there had been no previous issues with Scooby around children.

“This trust would not put anyone deliberately in harm’s way – they want to do good for the community.”

The New Plymouth-based trust was created in 2020 to “enhance the lives of dogs, their owners and the community”. Through a number of programmes it offers including desexing, ownership education, and the rehoming of canines.

In arguing his application, Anderson submitted the consequences of a conviction would be “chilling”. But Crown prosecutor Justin Marinovich opposed the application for a discharge without conviction, arguing the trust was aware concerns had been raised around Scooby’s aggression and it lacked forethought when it fostered the dog.

The sole motivation for the trust was “can we get this dog into a house”, Marinovich submitted.

It should have made a “proper and educated” assessment of the environment it was going into and whether the occupants of that environment would be safe.

Judge Tony Greig ordered the trust pay an immediate emotional harm reparation payment of $10,000 to the girl and the pound costs of $4910 for housing Scooby. An order was also made for the dog’s destruction