Renfrewshire couple jailed over dog attack that left woman scarred for life
Leeanne McHugh and Patrick Maher were also banned from keeping dogs for 20 years.
Last updated 7th Feb 2017
A Renfrewshire couple who sat back and watched as their dog mauled a woman's face and left her scarred for life have been jailed.
Leeanne McHugh, 35, and Patrick Maher, 46, were also banned from keeping dogs for 20 years over their Japanese Akita's attacks on their old neighbour, Sylvia Baillie, and Maher's aunt, Jane Darroch.
Sylvia, 60, was attacked in McHugh and Maher's Paisley home on July 13 last year after a funeral.
Procurator Fiscal Depute Alan Parfery told Paisley Sheriff Court: "All parties had, tragically, had to attend a funeral that day and had been drinking during the course of the day at the funeral.
"The 60-year-old Sylvia Baillie made to leave the property during the course of the evening and, in the course of waving and saying goodbye, made to wave goodbye to the dog.
"The dog bit her on the face.W
"The dog's jaw locked, for what's described as a few seconds, before her daughter grabbed the dog and pulled the dog away.
"Neither McHugh of Maher did anything during that period of time.
"They were both in the room and McHugh, the owner of the dog, did nothing during that time, albeit it was a short time."
Maher took the dog out of the living room and later told police probing the attack that it ran away and outside his flat.
McHugh tried to treat Baillie's injuries and the police and ambulance were called.
Parfery, prosecuting, added: "When emergency services arrived they found the 60-year-old Sylvia Baillie with a wound to the left side of her face.
"She had been attempting to stem some of the blood with toilet paper but ambulance workers had to apply a large pressure pad.
"The injury was very severe and she is permanently disfigured.
"Doctors are unable to say how many stitches were applied as they were both
external - to the face - and inside her mouth.
"There were so many stitches inserted, the doctors could not say."
Two weeks earlier, on June 30 last year, the dock attacked Maher's elderly aunt, 72-year-old Jane Darroch.
Maher had been visiting his aunt's at her home, had tied the dog up outside, and it struck when he left.
Mr Parfery explained: "It had been tied to a pole at the bottom of an access ramp that led to the front door for about 30 minutes.
"Jane Darroch walked the accused Maher out of her home address and began having a conversation with him about what he was going to have for his dinner.
"She had her right hand within her jacket pocket.
"She said to the accused, 'you better get down the road' at which time she was bitten around the right wrist by the Akita, who appeared to come from behind her and without anything she would describe as provocation.
"She describes the dog as 'biting down' and that the pain was, 'unbearable'.
"She was able to rip her arm from the mouth of the Akita.
"She was in a state of distress and her arm was bleeding profusely.
"Maher asked, 'has the dog ripped your jacket, Auntie Jane?' and she replied, 'it's ripped my arm'.
"She was able to see the bone."
Mrs Darroch was later driven to hospital by her husband, where 12 stitches were used to seal the wound to her wrist.
Maher and McHugh each admitted a charge under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 - that they were in charge of a dog that was dangerously out of control and left it's victim scarred for life - during a court hearing last month.
Sentence was deferred for them to be assessed by social workers and they returned to the dock today.
Defence solicitor Gordon Ritchie, representing Maher, described the attack on Mrs Darroch as "a particularly distressing incident."
He asked for leniency for Maher, saying he was in the grip of a serious alcohol addiction at the time of the attack on his aunt, which was the first time the dog had been violent, and had acted in a way he thought was responsible.
The lawyer explained: "There was nothing to suggest, as far as he was concerned, for the dog to attack and inflict injury on a member of the public.
"He had left it outside the flat, tied up, to minimise contact with the lady.
"The incident happened when he was leaving her flat.
"He could have believed the dog was so placid it could never hurt anybody."
And he said Maher had no problem with being banned from owning or keeping dogs, adding: "He advises me the only pet he owns is a goldfish."
Lawyer Mark Fallon, representing McHugh, also asked for leniency in what he termed "a unique and unusual" case.
He said the incident involving Sylvia Baillie "had some degree of predictability" but McHugh "felt she'd taken enough steps to ensure the public were safe from the dog in her own home.
"She's full of regret.
"They had been friends for years and this has caused irreparable damage to that friendship."
Both lawyers asked for Community Payback Orders instead of jail terms for their clients.
But Sheriff David Pender ruled there was only one way he could deal with them, and caged them both.
As he sentenced them both to 12 months in prison, reduced from 15 as they admitted their guilt, he pointed out that dog wardens had previously told them to keep the dog on a short leash, advice they had not followed.
He added: "It's quite clear you ought to have known the dog had a vicious propensity.
"There's no doubt, by the time Mrs Baillie was bitten, it must've been very clear the dog had a vicious propensity.
"You took no steps to ensure people visiting your home were safe from the dog."
He also ordered the Akita to be destroyed and banned the couple from keeping dogs until 2037.
And he awarded Darroch £500 compensation and Baillie £1,000 for their injuries.
The couple had struck a deal with prosecutors which saw charges that the dog also attacked a baby and another woman and worried another dog dropped in exchange for their guilty pleas.
McHugh sat emotionless in the dog as she learned she was being jailed, while Maher looked shellshocked at the news, sitting open mouthed from the moment he learned his fate until he was led away in handcuffs to begin his jail term.
Tensions ran high in court and Sylvia's daughter, Leeann McKenna stormed out during the hearing, taking issue with prosecution claims that her mum had been bitten when she tried to kiss the dog.
She said: "She didn't kiss the dog, because I pulled it off her."
Outside court, Leeann said: "I thought my mum was dead.
"There were pools of blood in her eyes and she wasn't moving."
Sylvia said: "I've never been the same since the attack.
"I can't bear dogs or to be near dogs now.
"I still get flashbacks."