A Boxer dog had attacked and bitten two children on a swing in a children’s play park. The court found that the dog which was in the charge of the appellant entered the play area. It was not on a lead. It approached the swings and circled round them and then started to bark and jump at the two children. One of the children began to scream, whereupon the dog bit that child in the foot. It then bit the other child on the leg and bit the first child again on the leg. This child got off the swing and started to run away. The dog bit her arm. It was at that point that the appellant intervened, caught the dog and put it on a lead’. The sheriff had noted the terms of section 10(3) saying: ‘Having regard to the evidence, I took the view that during the course of the events on (the date of the incident) the dog became dangerously out of control because, as matters developed, there were grounds for reasonable apprehension that it would injure someone, although there were no such grounds at the outset’.
Held: The sherrif’s approach was rejected: ‘The occasion which arose in this case, to which the definition in section 10(3) should be referred, was the occasion of the incident described in the findings. That was a single incident and it was an incident at the beginning of which this dog was found not to be dangerously out of control. Since it was a single incident with no appreciable interval, there was no stage at which it could be said that there were grounds for reasonable apprehension that the dog would injure any person before it was all over and the dog was put on the lead. Accordingly, the essential basis for a finding of guilt on this charge was not present’.
Citations:
1994 SCCR 697
Statutes:
Citing:
Cited – Normand v Lucas 1993
A lady had fallen in the street and was sitting on a wall when the appellant appeared, along with a small Jack Russell dog. The lady who had fallen encouraged the dog to sit on her knee whilst she was on the wall. She leaned forward and the dog . .
Cited by:
Cited – Thomson v Procurator Fiscal, Peterhead HCJ 16-Dec-2009
The defendant appealed against her conviction for having her dog dangerously out of control in a public place. She said there had been insufficient evidence to justify the finding. The dog was said to had attacked and bitten another dog, and then . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Scotland, Animals, Crime
Updated: 06 May 2022; Ref: scu.503463