A 10-year-old boy was scarred for life after an XL Bully escaped and started ‘ragging’ him around a garden.
The youngster had been out with his mum visiting Lewis Williams, 23, who kept the banned breed at his home in Ebbw Vale, South Wales, when he was attacked last summer.
Newport Crown Court heard he saw the animal – described as ‘angry, vicious and feisty’ – jump a side gate before leaping up, biting his neck and ‘ragging’ him.
His mum said in a statement: ‘As a result of this incident, he has suffered nightmares and sleepless nights about the dog attack. He has lost confidence around dogs.
‘He always liked dogs but he is worried now of large dogs. He is suffering with anxiety and depression and is having therapy. He has started PTSD treatment this week.’
While the schoolboy was rushed to hospital crying and covered in blood, the court heard Williams became ‘irate’ at the police’s presence and refused to surrender Gucci.
He later blamed the boy for the attack in a social media post, writing: ‘Everyone who knows me knows I have got a very large dog.
‘A sign on the property is clearly visible from the entrance to the garden: “If you choose to enter the property you enter at your own risk”.
‘When I am present I can control my dog. If you needlessly walk through the gate and ever tend to my dog you do so at your own risk. That’s what the sign is for.’
In his police interview he said the dog had lashed out because the youngster, who was wearing a bicycle helmet, had his face covered and had hit the animal.
He later pleaded guilty to being the owner of a dog dangerously out of control, WalesOnline reports.
Defending, William Bebb told the court: ‘He loves that dog very much and has never witnessed it being violent in the past.’
The judge, Recorder David Payne, said Williams had shown ‘little discernible empathy’ or remorse for the victim.
But he agreed to suspend the six-month prison sentence for a year, saying there was a realistic prospect of rehabilitation in his case.
He also ordered the ‘humane destruction’ of Gucci, and banned Williams from owning a dog for three years.
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