A victim who was left with multiple injuries after a pack of eight dogs sank their teeth into her recalled seeing “blood everywhere”, after a brutal attack against a woman and girl.
The pack of eight red Labradors savaged the pair in two separate attacks at Coombeland Farm, near Tiverton, Devon, Exeter Crown Court previously heard. In the first attack against a woman, the dogs went for her as she delivered hay to the property in January last year.
The victim had been undoing the straps of a trailer in the main yard when the dogs started to attack her by biting at her legs, bottom and arms. Some of the dogs were seen hanging off her during the attack.
The red Labradors (not pictured) attacked two people just one month apart
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“They were ripping at her rather than biting and letting go,” prosecutor Lewis Aldous said. “The woman’s partner pulled her to safety and believed she was going to be killed during the attack.
A farmhand then helped get the woman to safety at a nearby barn, reports Mirror affiliate DevonLive. The victim recalled having her trousers down at her ankles and seeing “blood everywhere.”
The owner of the dogs, businessman John Hardy, was said to have offered the victim £80 for new trousers before phoning to suggest compensation, but this was declined. In a statement shared with the court, the victim said she had flashbacks and even nightmares about the attack.
The second incident happened a month later when a mother took her two children to see a horse that Hardy was selling.
The dogs then descended on the girl “like a pack of wild animals,” according to the mum. They then pinned her to the ground and hit her several times before the mum was able to pull her away.
After being pulled away, the girl asked: “Mummy, am I going to die?” The mum claimed that Hardy had been “somewhat blasé” about the attack and did not hear from him again.
The young girl suffered 36 wounds across her body in addition to bruising. She needed a tetanus shot as was told she would have seven scars on her body for the rest of her life.
She has since been diagnosed with PTSD and developed a deep fear of “all dogs”. Hardy, 75, initially pleaded not guilty then admitted to the charges of twice being the owner of dogs that were dangerously out of control at Exeter Crown Court.
He is now selling his equine business and his large estate. He is reportedly “shocked and appalled” by what happened.
Judge Evans sentenced Hardy to 150 unpaid hours of work as part of a 15-month suspended sentence as well as ordering he pay £5,000 in compensation to the victims. Three of his dogs have been destroyed with the remaining being threatened with the same if he does not keep them under control.