Owner of Rottweiler cleared of responsibility for baby-biting incident

The owner of a Rottweiler that bit an infant’s testicles has been cleared of responsibility, a court holding that the incident had been the fault of the child’s grandmother who had held it close to the strange dog whilst petting another canine.

Robert Bugeja, 29, from Mqabba had been charged with negligently causing grievous injuries to the child, following the incident at Ta Qali National Park in September 2016.

The child suffered laceration to its left leg and a tear in its scrotum, but no permanent injuries as a result of the attack.

Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera noted that persons are expected to keep themselves away from avoidable dangers. “This court cannot forget that in the case at hand, it was a baby that ended up the victim and had been in the hands of an adult. Therefore this court must go a step further to establish whether it had been the responsibility of the adult...or the responsibility of the owner of the dog to tell her to keep away from it.”

Responsibility extended to the involuntary outcomes of imprudence, held the court. The woman had taken the child to pet a dog that was near another, albeit chained, dog. It is predictable for a dog to react when approached or gesticulated in front of, said the court. The magistrate observed that the grandmother had raised her hand to pass the baby to her daughter and in the process elicited a startled reaction from the dog.

The attack had not been a result of a voluntary, negligent, imprudent or careless act of the defendant, said the court, but the fault of the helpless baby’s grandmother.

Bugeja was cleared of all charges.

Lawyers Joseph Gerada, Charlon Gouder and Jonathan Attard were defence counsel.