A pack of eight dogs savaged an 11-year-old girl and a woman in two brutal attacks as they visited the farm.
The eight red Labradors sank their teeth into the horrified visitors at Coombeland Farm, near Tiverton, Devon, Exeter Crown Court heard. They were owned by businessman John Hardy, who was described as a “successful man of considerable reputation.”
The mum of the wounded girl said Hardy had been “blasé” about the attack and the injured woman reported the businessman offered £80 to replace her shredded trousers. Following the attack, three of Hardy’s dogs have been destroyed and the 75-year-old has since been convicted of two offences of being the owner of the dogs that were dangerously out of control.
He has since been given a suspended sentence and was ordered to pay the victims £5,000 each in compensation. The first attack against the woman happened on January last year as she delivered hay.
She had been undoing the straps of a trailer in the main yard when the dogs attacked, biting her legs, bottom and arms. Some of the dogs had been hanging off her during the attack.
Prosecutor Lewis Aldous said: “”They were ripping at her rather than biting and letting go.” The woman’s partner managed to pull her away to safety and added he believed she was going to be killed in the attack.
A farmhand then managed to take her to a barn for safety, reports Mirror affiliate DevonLive. She recalled how there was “blood everywhere” and having her trousers down at her ankles.
Hardy later offered the woman £80 for new trousers and later phoned to offer compensation but this was declined. The victim suffered 11 wounds across her body and needed to spend five days in the hospital as well as having two rounds of surgery.
In a statement read to the court she claimed to have suffered flashbacks and nightmares about the attack. The second attack happened a month later when a woman and took her two daughters to visit the farm to see a horse Hardy was selling.
The mum had been speaking to Hardy in the yard when the pack raced toward one of the dogs “like a pack of wild animals.” They pinned the girl down and repeatedly bit her before a mum and farmhand dragged her away.
During the attack, the girl asked: “Mummy, am I going to die?” Hardy was described by the mum as being “somewhat blasé” about the incident and did not hear from him again.
The girl suffered 36 wounds to her body as well as bruising. She also required a tetanus shot and was told that she would have seven scars on her body for the rest of her life.
The girl has since been diagnosed with PTSD and said she is now “really scared of all dogs.” Hardy pleaded not guilty at first but later admitted the charges and was sentenced at Exeter Crown Court.
Hardy is now selling his equine business as well as his large estate. He also said he was “shocked and appalled” by what happened and was deeply sorry.
Judge David Evans said the first attack was prolonged and savage. Hardy was sentenced to 150 hours of unpaid work as part of a 15-month suspended sentence. Judge Evans said the remaining dogs would be destroyed if he could not keep them under control.