A mum's XL bully left her neighbour "deformed" and needing plastic surgery after a savage dog attack.
The victim was left "scarred for life", having been mauled while seeking to protect her own dog from harm. The owner of the two attacking dogs, Suraya Highton-Lawal, then callously walked away despite the severely injured woman's pleas for help.
Liverpool Crown Court heard today, Friday, that Clare Holden parked her car at the rear of her address on Falkner Square in the Georgian Quarter at around 9.15am on September 21 and took her dog out of the vehicle on its lead. As she did so, 31-year-old Highton-Lawal let her two XL bullies out into the communal garden and parking area off their leads.
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Ken Grant, prosecuting, described how the dogs "immediately" attempted to attack Ms Holden's pet. She was left holding her own dog aloft in the air in order to keep it out of harm's way.
But Highton-Lawal's dogs began "throwing themselves" at her. One of them, Walter, sunk its teeth into her right arm and "locked on".
It eventually released its grip and Ms Holden managed to get herself and her dog back into the car, although it continued trying to bite her legs as she did so. The complainant shouted for Highton-Lawal - of Low Wood Street in Kensington - to call her an ambulance, but the mother-of-two ignored her cries and went back into her flat.
Police and paramedics attended the scene, with Ms Holden subsequently spending five days in Whiston Hospital and undergoing "significant" plastic surgery. Walter was later destroyed.
A statement read out to the court on Ms Holden's behalf described how she has been left "paranoid" about the injury to her arm and feeling "self conscious" about it. She also stated that "seeing the dogs triggers something deep inside of her" while she "relives the scenario over and over again", adding: "I am scarred for life.
"My arm is deformed. I am reminded of this attack every single day."
Julian Nutter, defending, told the court: "There is what has been deemed to be a lack of remorse, but there is material which suggests the contrary. This lady has stopped keeping dogs.
"It was a random attack. It was not a 'go get 'em boy' attack.
"It is a one-off. There has been nothing since.
"She is a single mother and a good mother. This is serious and should be reflect by a custodial sentence, but it can be properly suspended."
Highton-Lawal admitted being in charge of a dangerously out of control dog causing injury. She was handed a 16-month imprisonment suspended for two years.
Judge David Hale described Ms Holden's injuries as "completely horrendous", saying in his sentencing remarks: "Looking at the photographs, Walter looks like a powerful dog. Walter went for Ms Holden's dog as she was getting out of her car without causing you any hassle at all.
"Walter has caused her the most awful injury. The skin has come off from the arm for quite a considerable area - inches, very unpleasant.
"She was in hospital being treated for five days, and thereafter having to undergo skin grafts. She is terribly conscious of it - seeing it every day, feeling it every day and having to walk past the scene every day.
"Walter has no history of behaving like this. He was obviously a boisterous dog, and you knew that.
"The fact that you have got two children, aged 10 and six, with no one to look after them if you are put in prison leads me inevitably to have to suspend the sentence."
Highton-Lawal was also banned from keeping dogs for seven years. She will be required to complete 140 hours of unpaid work and a rehabilitation activity requirement of up to 10 days.
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