A man (47) from Utrecht and a woman (52) from Breda, whose dog bit a passer-by four times in 2020 and 2021, were punished by the subdistrict court judge in Breda on Friday. They received community service and suspended prison sentences. In addition, they lose their dog. They have not sufficiently ensured that their ‘dangerous animal’ did not cause any damage.
Of the four bite incidents, three were on the public road around the Burgst estate in Breda, which belongs to the dog owners.
The dog in question is notorious in the Breda neighborhood of Haagse Beemden. Before the four attacks on humans, there have been other incidents of the beast attacking other dogs. Enforcers and the police have already contacted the owners for that reason. The municipality has even imposed a muzzle and leash obligation. Yet the animal was often seen running loose outside the estate.
On July 25, 2020, a man is bitten on the thigh by a mastiff while walking near the estate with his girlfriend. The same dog storms without cause on January 29, 2021 at a woman and her child, past the open gate of the estate. The dog bites the mother twice in the thigh. She flees home through the water and has to go to a hospital.
“We don’t dare to walk in the woods anymore.”
The woman is still suffering from her injuries, but the emotional damage is especially great. “My daughter and I no longer dare to go into the woods for fear of stray dogs. We are always alert to dogs and whether they are on a leash. We no longer take quiet walks,” she says. Her then 11-year-old daughter still feels guilty because she asked her mother to look at the playground. “She no longer dared to cycle past the gate to school.”
A runner is the next victim of the mastiff who, according to the owner, is used as a guard dog on the estate. March 28, 2021 she will be taken out of nowhere. The dog grabs her upper arm and pulls her to the ground.
“I’m sorry that I’m in my wedding photos with scars on my arm.”
After the attack, the woman no longer dares to run along the estate and buys a treadmill. She now dares to cycle there again. “Especially that I am in my wedding photos with scars on my arm, I find it bad.”
A landscape architect invited by the estate and dog owner also falls victim to the mastiff, that was on October 18, 2021.
“Disrespectful to victims.”
Both suspects are not present at the trial, but on vacation and invoked their right to remain silent with the police. Justice: “The whole file disrespectful to the victims. The dog owner even seems to blame others for not keeping this dangerous dog on the estate.”
Although the lawyers are still trying to sow doubt whether it was always the same dog that attacked and who is formally the owner, the subdistrict court judge shows no mercy. The man will receive 240 hours of community service and will go to jail for ten weeks if he misbehaves again in the next five years. The woman gets 120 hours and four weeks probation.
The dog has been away from the suspects for a long time and is now being taken from them permanently. According to the prosecutor, there is a good chance that the 8-year-old mastiff will get an injection, although he wants to look at other options. The dog will certainly not return to the Haagse Beemden where the mastiff is feared. One of the victims: “A huge relief, otherwise I might have moved.”
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