A pit bull is to be put down after biting a woman's hand while the dog's owner has been jailed for 10 months. Gary Boswell has been jailed after admitting being the owner of a dog which was dangerously out of control and causing injury. He has also been banned from keeping a dog for a decade.
Boswell told the court heard he used Missy as 'protection' from drug dealers. Missy was a 'banned breed' and had been seized by police in 2017, but Boswell had been allowed to keep her after gaining an 'exemption certificate', which included rules on how she should be kept.
Police seized the dog again the following year after reports that Missy had 'gone for' a woman and her elderly mother, knocking the older woman to the floor. No prosecution was brought and Missy returned to Boswell, reports MEN.
In August 2020, a beautician in her 20s came home from work and shouted to Boswell to let her know she was in the communal garden. But she saw Missy appear. Missy bit her hand through the fencing. Boswell came out and pulled Missy away.
The woman went to hospital and needed surgery, requiring stitching to her hand. The woman suffered numbness as well as panic attacks and flashbacks, and has had to stop working as a beautician due to her injury.
Defending, Natalie Goffe, said Missy had been let out by a friend of Boswell's. She said Missy provided 'protection' for Boswell.
She said he has had 'long standing' drug issues but has been clean since last year. Judge Suzanne Goddard KC said: "You were fully aware of the dangerous potential nature of this dog.
"It's clear to me you should have exercised more control over your dog. If you choose to have a dog like that, and you have a warning about the behaviour of that dog and that dog then injures somebody, it becomes a very serious matter."
The judge ordered that the dog should be destroyed. She said: "It seems to me that the necessary test is made out. There will be an order for the destruction of the dog Missy."
Boswell, of Chester Road, Stretford, was banned from having a dog for 10 years, after the judge said he was 'not a fit and proper person to have custody of a dog'.
