Footballer Gallacher denies claims his pet dog bit girl, 7
Trial told ex-Scotland player ‘took eye off ball’ as he chatted to friend
FORMER Scotland international Kevin Gallacher has denied claims his golden retriever bit a seven-yearold girl as he went on trial accused of owning a dog that was dangerously out of control.
The former Dundee United and Blackburn Rovers forward is said to have let the youngster stroke his dog, Baxter, unsupervised as he turned to chat to a friend at a picnic table. The girl needed hospital treatment for lacerations to her face and scalp after she said she was bitten “three, four times”, Blackburn Magistrates Court heard.
Mr Gallacher, 48, denies owning a dog which was dangerously out of control at The Bonny Inn in Clayton-le-Dale, Blackburn, on September 28 last year.
Opening the case, prosecutor Andrea Fawcett said Mr Gallacher had “taken his eye off the ball” in failing to super vise contact between the girl and the dog. She said the defendant consented to the girl’s request to stroke his dog.
She added: “Baxter, however long it took, should have been supervised by the owner of the dog, Mr Gallacher. It is clear that he did not actually see what happened. The Crown’s case, in a nutshell, is that he should have done.”
When interviewed by police, the girl, who cannot be named, said: “I asked the man if I could stroke him (the dog). He said yes. I stroked him and he just turned on me.
“He just bit me. Bit me really hard ... he bit me three, four times.”
Giving evidence, the girl agreed with Mr Gallacher’s solicitor Kathryn Jamieson-Sinclair that she may have frightened Baxter when she went to continue stroking him under the table bench.
Mr Gallacher, in his defence, told the court he believed he had control of eight-year-old Baxter, who he had owned since he was a puppy.
He said he held the dog’s collar and lead when the girl patted his dog at his side before Baxter laid underneath the bench.
Mr Gallacher, of Clayton-le-Dale, said he turned from his position at the picnic table to face his friend, with his feet touching the dog
He then heard “a yelp” from under the table which he compared to the sound the dog would make if he had stepped on its tail.
He looked down and Baxter was “placid as if nothing had happened” and the girl was in a squat position.
He told the court: “There was no crying, which I thought strange. I asked her three times if she was okay. As I moved her hair away, I noticed a cut to her head.”
Ms Jamieson-Sinclair asked him: “Do you believe you had control of your dog?”
He replied: “I believe control of my dog.”
The solicitor continued: “Do you
I had believe Baxter was doing anything untoward?” Mr Gallacher said: “No, I don’t believe he has done anything untoward.”
Earlier, two doctors who treated the girl told the court the injuries were consistent with a dog bite but they could not “conclusively” say that was the cause of the injuries.
Ms Fawcett asked Mr Gallacher: “Are you personally suggesting that Baxter did not bite (the girl)?”
He replied: “I am not personally suggesting Baxter did not bite her. I have a belief that he did not.”
The prosecutor said: “Are you saying she is mistaken how she got injured?”
Mr Gallacher said: “I don’t know how she got the injuries.”
The court has heard there were no witnesses to the alleged dog bite other than the girl.
The trial continues.
‘‘ There was no crying, which I thought strange. I asked her three times if she was okay