Dog owner spared jailed after 'horrific' mauling of young girl

A 62-year-old man whose dog launched a "horrific" attack on an 11-year-old girl and two men who bravely came to her aid has walked free from court.

Farhat Ajaz, whose dog is believed to have been an XL bully, was handed a two-year suspended prison sentence after a judge was told he had also threatened to kill a former partner during a vile campaign of harassment.

Birmingham Crown Court heard Ajaz was subject to a life-long licence at the time of the offences, having been jailed in 1979 and serving 25 years before his release in 2004.

Ajaz, of Bordesley Close, Birmingham, pleaded guilty at previous hearings to harassment causing fear of violence and three counts of being the owner or in charge of a dog dangerously out of control, causing injury.

CCTV from a shop was played in court on Friday, showing the dog, named Tyson, snapping its collar and attacking the 11-year-old in Bordesley Green, Birmingham, on September 9 last year.

The victim, who cannot be named because of her age, was left with scarring to her arm and shoulder.

Further footage filmed by bus passengers showed subsequent attacks on Numaan Ahmed and Yousef Ahmadzai, who helped the girl but were injured on a nearby petrol station forecourt, with one of them fearing he would die.

Passing sentence on Ajaz, Judge Heidi Kubik KC said the harassment, relating to a series of incidents in February and March 2022, involved "vile, threatening and abusive" behaviour which on its own merited a custodial sentence.

The judge told Ajaz: "You were out and about on the street with the dog, even at that stage not in the best of health and frankly not in a capable state of restraining the dog, who was not muzzled at the time.

"It set about attacking three separate people including an 11-year-old girl. It was a horrific attack. She was undoubtedly and rightly terrified.

"Those who intervened because you were unable to bring him under control were also then attacked, the dog pursuing them across the street."

The judge was told Ajaz regarded himself as a "dead man walking" due to a variety of health problems including lung disease and cardiac problems, having suffered a heart attack in the immediate aftermath of the dog attack.

The judge told him: "I make it perfectly plain that were you a younger man in good health, you would be going immediately to prison today.

"Bearing in mind your guilty pleas and the health conditions that you now suffer, I take the view that it would not be in the interests of justice to send you to immediate custody today."

Ajaz, whose sentence was suspended for two years, left court on crutches and told reporters he was sorry about what happened and had children of his own.

The court was told Ajaz eventually managed to restrain the dog, having seen it break free and attack the 11-year-old on a pavement near a bus stop.

He was also banned from owning a dog for the rest of his life and made the subject of a restraining order.

No details of the offence for which Ajaz received a life sentence in 1979 were given to the court.

Prior to the sentencing, defence barrister Ekwall Tiwana said both of Ajaz's lungs were "very frail" and he also suffered from hypertension.

Mr Tiwana told the court: "One must look at this defendant's background. At 15 years of age, he was imprisoned for a significant period of time - for 25 years.

"He had to reintegrate himself into the community.

"Stupidly the defendant bought the dog for his son. His son was completely incapable of looking after the dog."

At the time of the offence, Mr Tiwana said, the dog - described in court as "likely to be an XL Bully" - was not a prohibited breed as new laws had not yet come into force.