A nan who bravely tried to separate two American bulldogs was killed when the animals turned on her.
Ann Dunn, 65, is believed to have been savagely attacked by her son's three-year-old dog, Bronx, as she tried to break up a fight between it and another dog, Cairo, at her St Brigid's Crescent home on Monday, October 3 last year. She suffered "catastrophic" injuries to her arms, legs and neck, including broken bones and bite marks "down to the bone".
Her son, Stephen Dunn Jr, 31, was arrested on suspicion of being the owner of a dog dangerously out of control, but was later released without charge.
READ MORE: No-one to face criminal charges after nan mauled to death
At an inquest today, the court heard Mrs Dunn would often look after her son's five American bulldogs - Bronx, Cairo, Panther, Rogue and Texas - and had been home alone with the dogs at the time of the attack. Mr Dunn told police his dogs had never been violent towards humans before - but added that Cairo and Bronx had begun fighting with each other and had to be separated, during which he was injured himself.
At around 1.20pm on October 3, Mrs Dunn phoned her son and told him she was going to let Bronx out of the bedroom as he was crying, and he advised her to keep the dog away from Cairo, as they would fight.
Fears were raised later that afternoon when Mrs Dunn failed to pick up her grandson from school, and family members attended her address.
Coroner Andre Rebello said: "They have looked through the letterbox and saw Ann lying in the hallway unresponsive, and she was in a pool of blood, with blood on her body. Ann was face-down and covered by a blood soaked towel. Both her arms were showing evidence of bite marks, along with her legs."
Cairo was found shut inside the kitchen, while Bronx was wandering loose in the garden. Texas was locked in a cage in the garden, while Rogue and Panther were found in a garden shed. Two other dogs, a Jack Russell cross called Biggie and a Labrador puppy called Windy, were found in cages in the dining room.
Police, ambulance services and fire crews attended, and Mrs Dunn was pronounced dead at the scene at 4.31pm.
The five American bulldogs were seized and put down later that day.
In a statement, detective inspector Katie Coot said: "It appeared Ann was at her home alone. At approximately 1.20pm she contacted her son and appeared safe and well. She advised him she intended to let Bronx out as he was crying. At the time, it was believed Cairo was loose in the house.
"At some point prior to 4.07pm when Ann should have collected her grandchild, she had allowed Bronx out. It appears Bronx has then attacked Cairo and I believe Ann has intervened in this attack and moved Cairo away to the kitchen. I believe that Ann was attacked by Bronx while separating them."
She added: "Bronx has then subjected Ann to a sustained and significant attack consisting of biting, crushing, shaking movements, causing catastrophic injuries to multiple parts of her body. She has collapsed in the hallway and died of her injuries, likely losing consciousness prior to this point."
A post-mortem determined her cause of death was multiple dog bite injuries.
Mr Rebello said the circumstances of the case were "particularly distressing", and handed down a brief narrative conclusion which read: "Ann Dunn was killed by dog bites in her home on October 3 2022."
He said: "These are very, very powerful animals and the amount of damage caused to Ann was so significant I can't even begin to describe it in court. But hopefully people will be aware that dogs of this size are probably not best kept in these numbers in a domestic setting.
"There's nothing against the law to prevent people breeding these dogs, but not everything has to be against the law to be unwise."
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