Police unshaken by move over dog-mauling trial

By CATHERINE MASTERS

Police are standing by the evidence which resulted in jail terms for the owners of Joey, the american staffordshire terrier destroyed after the savaging of Carolina Anderson, 7.

Brian Hill and Henry Owen have hired a new lawyer, Lorraine Smith, who told One News yesterday that she was applying to have their guilty pleas set aside.

She said a police job sheet raised questions about the pleas.

The job sheet allegedly puts Joey's owners in a supermarket 15 minutes away when the attack is said to have happened.

During the court case Owen and Hill admitted Joey was the dog who attacked Carolina as she played at Coxs Bay Reserve in Westmere in January. Each was sentenced to two months in prison but released on bail pending an appeal.

But they told the Sunday programme this week they had not seen the attack and had always doubted their dog was to blame.

They had accepted the accounts of witnesses who said the dog involved was Joey and that is why they pleaded guilty.

However, police said yesterday the evidence collected and presented to the Auckland District Court to convict the pair on the charge of owning a dog that caused serious injury was robust.

"I'm very confident the response by police to witness statements and the initial offenders' statements was, and still is, appropriate to their subsequent convictions and would withstand any scrutiny," said Senior Sergeant Keith Brady.

Crown prosecutor Mark Woolford has been instructed to oppose any application to have their guilty pleas vacated.

This application is a legal but uncommon procedure and is only granted for a good reason, such as counsel being incompetent or not giving proper advice.

"When a person pleads guilty, especially in this case where they had very competent legal representation in the form of Paul Wicks ... I can say it's an unusual application," said Mr Woolford.

Mr Wicks earlier said he did not know his former clients had hired a new lawyer until he saw Sunday.