A Llanidloes man whose dog bit a woman on the leg has been given a six-month community order.
Donald Maxwell Coates, of Penrallt Lodge, Llanidloes pleaded guilty to three separate charges relating to his four dogs which were “dangerously out of control” when the woman was attacked at Tylwch.
On Tuesday, June 29, Welshpool Magistrates Court heard how on the morning of March 8 the victim of the attack was walking on the road near Llanidloes when the defendant pulled up in his truck with his four dogs, an alsatian, a rottweiler, a mastiff and a Staffordshire bull terrier.
The court heard that 65-year-old Coates had opened the doors and let the dogs run free, at which point they ran towards the victim and the rottweiler bit her on the back of her leg.
In a “crying and shocked” state, the victim then shouted to the defendant to call his dogs off because one of them had bitten her, at which point he said “No it didn’t.”
She then showed the defendant the injury, at which point he gave her a lift home. She subsequently spoke to a doctor and received a tetanus injection and antibiotics, before making a complaint to the police.
The court was also told that the alsatian, known as “Rocky”, was the subject of a control order due to a previous biting incident, which required the dog to be muzzled and to be on a lead.
In mitigation Coates said he had owned animals “all his life” and had only ever had one problem previously which was in relation to the alsatian in 2018 which led to the previous control order.
He also said he had taken the dogs to what he thought was a remote area where he had believed no-one would be present.
Sentencing, magistrates told Coates that the matters before the court were “very serious” but that they wanted to deal with the matter in a sympathetic way.
“We don’t expect members of the public to have to worry about where your dogs will be,” they told him.
Coates was sentenced to a six-month community order to include 10 rehabilitation activities (RAR days) and fined £133.
He was also ordered to pay compensation to the victim of £250, as well as costs of £85 and a victim surcharge of £95.
The crown sought to make an order that prevented Coates from owning dogs in the future, which was denied by the court.
However, a further control order was imposed which stated that all four of the dogs concerned must always be muzzled and on a lead while in a public place for the lifetime of the animals.
