Owner keeps dog after film review

A district judge finalised his decision about a dog who bit and injured a girl and, after seeing a DVD of the dog being walked where children were present, said the owner could keep the dog.

The mother of the injured child had testified in court previously that she did not understand why her daughter had to grow up in a neighbourhood with the dog still living there.

“I don’t know why that dog has to be given another opportunity,” she said. “I don’t see why she has to grow up where the dog is [rather than the dog being given to another owner in a more suitable place]. My daughter is the victim, not the dog, not the owner of the dog.”

Judge Con O’Leary said yesterday the dog must be kept under control by the owner but he said it could remain where it is kept now.

The judge’s decision was adjourned until yesterday to allow time for the recording of DVD evidence of how safe the dog was around children.

The dog’s owner, Denise Cody, of Ard Na Greine, Banduff Rd, Ballyvolane, Cork, had pleaded guilty in May to a charge brought under the Control of Dogs Act of failing to have effectual control of the dog on August 28, 2014. She was fined €1,250.