A WOMAN from Goodwick appeared in Haverfordwest Magistrates Court on Tuesday to face a charge of allowing her dog to be dangerously out of control in a public place and cause injury.

Teresa Carlisle, aged 62, of Tresissilt, pleaded not guilty to her Staffordshire Bull Terrier cross biting Christopher Thomas on his leg while walking along a public footpath with his partner.

Prosecuting, Peter Lloyd told Magistrates:

“The public footpath runs past the defendant’s house and goes down to the beach. Thomas had said that and his partner had gone for a walk along the footpath. A dog began to run towards them. Thomas’ partner grabbed his arm while the dog was barking a bearing its teeth at them. Carlisle called her dog to come back by the name of ‘Della’, and ran toward her instead.

“Within seconds of it running back to her, it returned to Thomas. It was snarling, running around and Thomas was frightened. The dog bit his left knee and shouted out ‘It’s bitten me’. Carlisle shouted back ‘My dog doesn’t bite’.

“Thomas had a hole in his trousers and had a bruise to his leg. Photographs of this were taken by Angela Evans, Thomas’ partner. Carlisle does not accept that a bite had taken place and says the dog jumps up on occasions and says the dog’s claw could have done it”.

Mr Lloyd added: “We do not need to prove a bit. It is still an offence as the dog caused an injury”.

Christopher Thomas was then called to give evidence. He was handed a map of the footpath and surrounding buildings, which he had to mark where he was when the dog allegedly bit him.

Thomas told the court: “I had a wet stain and small holes from the dog’s teeth”.

Briony Angela Evans, the second witness, was then called in to give evidence after Thomas. Evans was also given a map and marked it almost identically to Thomas. The evidence Evans gave was almost identical to that given by Thomas.

PC Holloway also gave a statement in court, which reflected the evidence given by Evans and Thomas.

Defence solicitor, Christopher Austins asked Carlisle to give her side of the story. Carlisle told the court:

“I was standing outside the back door mixing up two horse feeds. I had my head down and I heard barking. Della always barks when somebody is coming. I looked up and I couldn’t see her. I took two strides to see if there was anybody there. The yard was empty except for this couple and I was immediately anxious and thought ‘It’s them’”.

“Della was running around, she wasn’t particularly aggressive. I called her back and she ran again. It’s what any other dog would do. They also state she was barking, snarling and bearing her teeth. Dogs can’t do that all at the same time. She was barking and running around.

“The distance between us was about 75 feet. I didn’t see her do anything. I wanted to get her back because I know they don’t like her. She must have jumped up. She used to do it a lot but not so much now” and added “I’m certain she didn’t bite him”.

Austins asked how she was certain, Carlisle said: “At the time I was certain because I didn’t see anything”.

Lloyd asked Carlisle: “In physical terms, when Della is out of sight, do you have any control?”

After avoiding the question, Carlisle admitted she did not.

Lloyd added: “In terms of seeing what happened, were you able to see as far as 75 feet?”

Carlisle said “Yes, 75 feet isn’t that far”. Carlisle continued to talk about how friendly her dog is, though Lloyd reminded her that she is only stating her experience with the dog.

Lloyd asked Carlisle: “Do you accept that your dog injured Mr Thomas?”, to which she replied

“Depends on what you call an injury. He could have had a bruise already”.

Upon Lloyd asking Carlisle: “You know full well Mr Thomas was bitten”, Carlisle raised her voice in saying “No”.

Lloyd also told the court: “Saying her dog doesn’t bite, doesn’t mean it didn’t bite”. Magistrates fined Carlisle £650 prosecution cost, £200 fine, £20 victim surcharge and had to pay Thomas £50 compensation. The dog must also be kept under control, be on a lead and wear a muzzle in a public place for the next 12 months.

Carlisle made a fuss about her dog being kept on a lead and muzzle stating: “It will make her an angry dog. I’ve had dogs all my life, you don’t understand”.

Magistrates added: “I think Miss Carlisle should consider how close we came today to passing a destruction order on Della”.