Arsenal star Reiss Nelson has been fined £3,000 after pleading guilty to a dog attack on his sports therapist at his north London mansion.
The winger, 24, was due to stand trial on Monday over the incident when therapist Saeid Motaali was bitten on the arm by the dog - a Cane Corso or Italian Mastiff named Tiago.
But he entered a guilty plea instead to being in charge of a dog which was dangerously out of control and caused injury, bringing the criminal case to an end.
Judge Alistair Wright sentenced Nelson to a £3,000 fine, and ordered him to pay £1,630 in costs and a £1,200 victim surcharge.
Details of the dog attack were first revealed by the Standard from a civil claim filed by Mr Motaali, as he sued for compensation from the Premier League footballer.
Mr Motaali was Nelson’s regular therapist for three years before the attack on December 2, 2020, which happened shortly after finishing a treatment session at Nelson’s £3million home in Hadley Wood, north London.
He says he had stopped on the way out for a selfie with the footballer and the dog for his children, and suddenly he found himself under attack.
“(He) took a photograph of the defendant (Nelson) and dog and was in the process of taking a ‘selfie’ type picture of the dog, the defendant and himself when, as he started to turn away, the dog suddenly, and without warning, jumped up at him towards his neck,” Mr Motaali’s legal team set out in High Court filings.
Mr Motaali says he “put his left arm up to protect himself whereupon the dog bit his left forearm”, and he “yanked his arm away from the dog’s mouth” after the animal left a “deep bite mark”.
Mr Motaali says he was left with numbness in his arm, constant pain, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
In the civil claim, he accused Nelson of failing to support him in the aftermath of the attack, and said Nelson was responsible for not controlling the dog or putting him in a muzzle.
The therapist sought refuge in the bathroom after being bitten. He was bleeding heavily and asked for an ambulance, and accused Nelson of not calling for help immediately.
Mr Motaali says he has been left unable to work following the attack, he developed an infection from the bite, and he has suffered from neck, back and shoulder pain as a result of “wrenching” away from the dog.
Nelson was charged in 2022 and pleaded not guilty, setting up a jury trial in July last year. However the case was then delayed for a further year for extra evidence to be gathered.
