KEY POINTS:
The owner of a staffordshire cross dog which clamped its jaws onto the face of a girl playing at Christchurch's Jellie Park has been ordered to pay $3500 to her family for emotional harm.
"One of the major points of the sentencing will be to help the little girl who is the innocent victim in all of this," said Simon Shamy, counsel for Robert John Lees, who lives in a Greers Road house near the park.
Judge Raoul Neave also fined Lees $250 but said most of the penalty would go to the family "to restore as best we can, in the limited way that money would enable us to do".
The girl, Aotea Coxon now aged three, faces medical treatment stretching years ahead to repair damage done by Jake the dog on August 5 when it unexpectedly got out of Lees' fenced yard.
The dog seized the girl by the face causing cuts which required 290 stitches and breaking her jaw. She has a metal plate in her mouth to help her jaw repair, and scars on her face. She lost several teeth and the tear ducts in her eyes were damaged causing her eyes to weep a lot.
"She will have the plate and scars looked at when she is five to see what can be done," said the judge.
Judge Neave said the dog previously had no savage tendencies and Lees was not an irresponsible owner who let animals roam the streets "causing injury or worse to passers-by". Jake had been destroyed since the attack.
Lees today pleaded guilty in Christchurch District Court to a charge of owning a dog which attacked and caused serious injury.
Mr Shamy said there had been an informal meeting between Lees and the girl's family. He believed the family just wanted to move on, rather than attend a sentencing session.
Judge Neave said the informal meeting had achieved as much as possible and no further restorative justice conference was recommended.
Reports from neighbours had described Jake as "a very nice dog" and could not understand it attacking anybody. Police noted that Lees and his wife had been very upset when they learnt of the attack.
The judge noted that the dog had been in an enclosed yard but had "proved to be rather more resourceful than anybody had foreseen" in getting out of the yard and into the park. He was shown a photograph of the dog sleeping peacefully with the Lees' infant daughter.
Lees, 24, has now qualified as a butcher. He has only traffic convictions on his record and he is paying off fines at a rate of $65 a week.
Mr Shamy said Lees would be able to make a lump sum payment by borrowing from his father.
Judge Neave ordered that $2000 of the reparations be paid by February 29, and the rest would be paid in weekly instalments as part of Lees' present fines arrangements.
- NZPA
