Dog Decision Reserved

A decision on whether a dog involved in attacks on two women in October can be returned to its owner pending court action has been reserved by the Hastings District Council hearings committee.

The chairman of the committee, Mick Lester, said he expected the decision to be made relatively quickly; “in a matter of days”.

Neither the owner of the dog, nor the two women who were attacked in separate incidents on October 3 at Whirinaki, appeared at the hearing. All parties supplied written statements which were read into the evidence by Mr Lester.

Two of the three dogs involved in the attacks had been relinquished by their owners and had since been destroyed. The owner of the third dog had not relinquished her dog and its ultimate fate will be decided in the courts.

Council’s animal control manager John Payne appeared as the only witness at yesterday’s hearing (December 10).

He confirmed to the committee that further information on dog-related incidents from the same address had been found in the records; however they did not directly implicate the dog that was the subject of the hearing.

Written evidence of council dog control staff included concerns that its behaviour showed some aggressive traits.

ends

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