By Cam Lucadou-Wells
A Narre Warren South man has been fined $2500 – plus pound costs – after his dog bit an eight-year-old boy to the bone.
The American bulldog Bowser broke free as its owner Tyler Teddy Legrand, 30, passed the dog lead to his partner on Ormond Road on 9 June about 5.30pm.
A few houses away, the boy was being piggy-backed by his mother at his home’s front door.
According to Casey Council’s court-tendered summary, the eight-year-old male dog jumped up and bit the boy’s leg.
As the mother tried to shut the front door, the dog bit her right arm.
Legrand restrained Bowser and provided contact details to the victim.
The boy was taken to Dandenong Hospital for surgery to two puncture wounds to his right calf, which penetrated to his bone.
The mother was also treated for her “superficial” wound with bruising and swelling.
A Casey council officer seized the dog two days later.
Bowser has remained impounded for more than two months, Dandenong Magistrates’ Court was told on 19 August.
In a victim impact statement, the boy’s mother wrote her son was previously relaxed and carefree, a dog lover who wanted a pet dog.
He no longer felt safe at home or at a nearby off-lead dog park, his mother wrote.
Legrand pleaded guilty to owning a dog that caused serious injury as well as not keeping his dog under effective control.
He told the court the dog broke away to visit a nearby house where he would normally bark at another dog.
“I shouldn’t have given him over (to my girlfriend) at that section.”
Legrand said that when he chased after Bowser, the dog thought he was playing and kept running.
The child yelled and tried to “brush off” Bowser with his leg, and Bowser “reacted”, Legrand said.
“I don’t blame the child for reacting the way he did.
“It was a nightmare… He’s not a vicious dog. It depends on the situation.”
Magistrate Andrew Halse said if the dog bit a child, it becomes classified as “vicious and dangerous” by those actions.
“The very nature of the dog is in question.
“It shouldn’t have been permitted that opportunity (to confront the boy).”
Mr Halse noted Legrand’s guilty plea, responsible behaviour after the attack and no prior court matters.
Legrand was fined $2500 on top of $2500 in pound costs and Casey’s $129.30 in court costs.
Casey Council was yet to decide Bowser’s fate, the court was told.
