A man whose dog bit off part of a six-year-old girl's ear was given a 12-week suspended jail term today.
Gary Hindley, 56, of Woodberry Way, Chingford, Essex, admitted allowing a dog to be dangerously out of control in a public place and causing injury under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991, after his dog mauled the child in a park in Essex last month.
Hindley was sentenced at London's Thames Magistrates' Court for his role in the incident, which resulted in the child having part of her ear bitten off as well as sustaining injuries to her neck and shoulder. His sentence was suspended for two years.
Hindley was disqualified from owning any animal for a period of 10 years and will also be electronically monitored, with the imposition of a curfew between 8pm and 7am for six weeks.
He must carry out 200 hours of unpaid work, to be completed in the next 12 months, and pay compensation totalling £450 - a sum which District Judge Robert Roscoe said he would regard as "very low compensation", adding that it would have been "far more" if he was in employment.
The judge also ordered that the dog, named Buddy, should be destroyed.
Before Hindley was sentenced, his solicitor, Ozlem Erbil Cetin, presented a letter which he had written to the girl's parents, apologising for what happened.
Ms Cetin said Hindley, who initially gave an incorrect address to the victim's father and left the scene quickly after the attack, was "very remorseful" and that he had "kicked" and "punched" the dog in an attempt to protect the child.
She said: "He is very remorseful. He's very sorry. He has written a letter to the parents."
She added: "He says he was in as much of a shock as the parents."
District Judge Roscoe said that, while Hindley may have attempted to stop the dog mauling the girl, his efforts were not good enough and described the attack as a "horrific incident".
He told him: "I accept you may have done your best to intervene but your best wasn't very good."
The judge said Hindley was not doing his duty by his dog or by others around him and added that all pets must be properly controlled.
He said: "Buddy was not well-trained, not well-looked after and not well-supervised."
Temi Bakare, prosecuting, read from a statement from the child's mother, pointing out that "the family as a whole have been affected" by the dog attack.
She wrote: "I had to do everything I could to protect my little girl."
The statement said there was a "large amount of hair torn from her head" and added that the dog did not have a lead or a collar.
District Judge Roscoe spoke to Hindley about the effect the attack would have on the family, not just physically in the case of their daughter, but also mentally for all those who witnessed it.
He said: "I have no doubt that you will agree that the effect on the two parents will be long-lasting and again cause them continuous worry, and especially during outings they have previously enjoyed."
He added: "When all is said and done, the blame for what happened falls fairly and squarely on your shoulders."
The unprovoked incident happened at Pole Hill in Woodberry Way, Chingford, in front of the girl's parents and her younger brother.
In a statement issued after the attack, her parents said it had left them "totally devastated" and in "a state of shock", and added that the animal circled their daughter like "a shark attack" before it struck.
Officers and paramedics arrived at the scene soon after the attack and the girl was taken to hospital for surgery.
Her father said the first time the children saw the dog was when it "charged towards them".
He said the family were visiting Pole Hill so they could view the sights of London with the telescope they had given their daughter for Christmas.
The father said the dog attacked on multiple occasions, adding that it "at one point, circled my daughter and my wife in what looked like a shark attack that you would see on TV. Our son who is very close to his big sister, witnessed the entire incident".
He added: "I hit the dog a number of times, trying to make it let go of my beautiful little girl and wife, but the dog continued to attack her, despite our best efforts to protect her. The dog was not on a lead and there was no obvious sign of the owner at first."
The father said he and his wife ended up on the ground as they fought the dog.
The animal ripped the majority of his daughter's right ear off, he added.
Hindley is due to start a job as a driver and said he will pay £50 per month until he has paid the £450 in full.